Phoenix Hire hit by theft
23 June 2021
Sophisticated and belligerent thieves stole four new mini excavators from Phoenix Hire & Sales’ recently opened plant sales depot in Newport last Saturday night.
The clearly well-organised gang gained access to Phoenix’s yard, which is on a trading estate, by breaking into a more vulnerable building two units down and brazenly working their way across.
And they actually managed to paint over the hirer’s security cameras using a roller mounted on a telescopic pole while standing in the neighbouring unit.
“The thieves started the break-in operation at 10.15pm and didn’t finish until 2.15am,” Phoenix MD Paul Lewis tells me. “After painting out the cameras they waited 30 minutes to see if it had generated any response but sadly not. They then used an angle grinder to cut through a fence to gain pedestrian access to our yard.
“They stole four Yanmar five-tonne Vio50-6 mini excavators. They obviously knew exactly what they were doing – they’d even brought spare machine batteries with them, which they just dumped in our yard afterwards.
“They used one of the minis as a battering ram to make a wider opening in the fence, then tracked the machines through the other two premises and loaded them onto a waiting truck. Bold as brass.
“And they knew which cameras to target. The three they blacked out were on a mast in the yard. We have others on the building itself but that is more than 30m away and, as it’s a large space, it’s too far to detect movement of people or vehicles. The thieves clearly knew that.
“They must have really caged this out in advance. They obviously examined the other two business premises very closely to determine their access points and how to get the machines out.
“And I’ve since heard that several other plant suppliers have been victims of this kind of theft, too, so I want to warn other companies about it.”
The Phoenix Newport site has numerous anti ram-raid and theft deterrence measures in place. But it’s been said before that, no matter how secure your own business premises are, if adjacent sites are less protected then they could make yours just as vulnerable.
The upshot is that this well-respected hirer has been robbed of machines worth nearly £200,000 and has had to repair considerable damage to the recently opened depot.
The serial numbers of the stolen Yanmar excavators are: YCEVIO50CAEE10774; YCEVIO50CAEE14266; YCEVIO50PBEE02669; and YCEVIO50KBEE02687, so if you come across them, tell the Police.
