Call for action after thieves target industrial estates

Police confirmed several commercial burglaries had been reported to them over the last few weeks.

Stephen Marshall of JW Autos at New Street, Kinsley said his MOT centre had been hit last month. Mr Marshall, who has had the company at the site since 1994, said something was happening at the industrial estates “almost every weekend” and businesses could not sustain it.

He said: “People are coming into the estates willy nilly whenever they want and are just stealing off hard working people and it is just not on.”

He called for action to make the industrial area more secure, suggesting surveillance or an unmarked police presence.

He said: “When people who have nothing to do with this estate can drive on to it and do as they like to people’s businesses, it’s just not right.”

Dan Nicholson of Priory Vehicle Engineers, based at Priory Business Park in Fitzwilliam agreed. He said: “More police presence would help and make you feel like something was being done”

Mr Nicholson said his business was “turned over” in February, leaving him questioning whether to continue operating.

“We don’t need it,” he said. “It is almost like this is a hazard of having a business these days.”

One business owner at the Ashmount Industrial Park in Kinsley said “around seven” of the businesses on the park had been hit in the last few months.

The man, who hasn’t directly been affected but requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, said: “All the businesses are worried.

“We come in thinking who is next? There’s a lot of businesses which have spent a fortune on alarm and camera systems.”