THIEVES used a stolen dumper truck to try to smash a cash machine from a wall outside a convenience store.

Police said two men took the forward-tipping dumper truck from a building estate at the back of Cotton Mill Works, in Knotts Lane, Colne, and drove it round the front of the building before ramming the Premier Store at around 3.30am yesterday.

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The men, caught on the shop’s CCTV with their hoods up, spent around a minute trying to force the ATM off the wall before being disturbed by neighbours living in the flats above and fleeing the scene. They caused extensive damage to the wall but escaped without any money.

David Blackburn was asleep in the flat directly above the cash machine when the incident happened. He said: “I heard a bang and at first I thought it was someone in the flat above or something like that. But then the noise continued and it was getting louder, it was just a constant thudding, I thought the building was falling down.

“I went to the window and had a look and I could see the two men, one in the truck and one stood on the pavement.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

Neighbour Hayley Barker said: “Me and my boyfriend woke up the sound of the banging. It was horrendous, the building was shaking, I thought it was an earthquake. We called the police but the two men, they were probably about 30 to 40, ran off.”

Ro Yousaf was also in a flat above the cash machine.

He said: “It was quite a shock, you don’t expect to see something like that happening where you live.”

The Premier Store has only been open for seven months. Before managing to start the dumper truck the thieves had moved a forklift truck out of the way from the building estate, police said. Mr Blackburn added: “It can be quite isolated and quiet down here. I was against the cash machine being installed and I said something like this would happen.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 3.30am following reports of a robbery at the Cotton Mill Works building, “Two men have started a dumper truck before using it to ram the front of the Premier Store to try and get at the cash machine. The two men have left the scene empty handed and police inquiries are ongoing.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101.