A FAMILY business that has traded in Basingstoke for four decades has been left devastated after thieves broke into their warehouse and stole £2,000 of tools.

The criminals gained access to Basingstoke Skip Hire’s premises in Daneshill, at around 9.30pm on Saturday, August 7.

In chilling CCTV footage, available to view on The Gazette’s website, two hooded men can be seen brazenly walking around the warehouse shining torches in search of valuables.

Laurie Hughes, company director, told The Gazette: “It makes me feel very angry. The tools are actually supplied by the mechanics. They work very hard and are expensive to buy. It’s not nice for the guys to know that someone has been through their belongings.”

You can read the full story in this week's Gazette, out August 12.

Also in this week's paper:

  • 750 cops deployed to stop traveller racing: More than 750 police officers were deployed to stop horse and trap racing along a three-mile stretch of the A33 near Micheldever across two weekends this summer, new data has revealed.
  • New Anvil chair’s focus is on ‘moving forward’: The new chair of Anvil Arts’ board of trustees has said his focus is “very much on moving forward” as he steps into the role just months after the organisation lost nearly £400,000 in public funding. Speaking to The Gazette three weeks after taking on the role, Chris Smith said he was “saddened” when he heard the news, but says it is “very much about moving forward from this point”.
  • Jail for thug in alcohol fuelled attack on teens: A Basingstoke mother has been jailed for beating up a group of teenagers in an alcohol-fuelled brawl on Alton High Street, outside the Iceland store, whilst passers-by looked on in horror.
  • New play park design is ‘lazy’: Parents have expressed their disappointment after the opening of a new children’s play park in Basingstoke. The new children’s play area in War Memorial Park opened earlier this week following a £495,000 revamp by the borough council, but parents were left unimpressed and have expressed their disappointment to the council.
  • Fears plaque was taken by protesters: A heritage plaque commemorating the life of one of the founding fathers of the East India Company has gone missing in Basingstoke, prompting fears it was taken down by protesters.
  • Plus: Eight pages of A-level results day picture special.
  • All the latest from Basingstoke Magistrates' Court.
  • Two pages of your letters to the editor.
  • We look back on the history of Costello School
  • The latest business news.
  • Three pages of entertainment news.
  • Four pages of local sports news.
  • And much more!

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