Sports car gang target vehicles at Chorley sales centre (From Chorley Citizen)

Sports car gang target vehicles at Chorley sales centre

9:42am Wednesday 20th March 2013 in Chorley By Chris Gee, Reporter

RAIDERS smashed through a wall at a car sales lot and escaped with three high powered cars valued at £30,000.

The thieves targeted the Premier Car Centre in Bengal Street, Chorley, between 4.30pm on Sunday and 9.20am on Monday.

Police said that padlocks on the wrought iron gates were cut through before the intruders scaled a brick wall and smashed their way through a rear corrugated metal wall.

Once inside they managed to break into a digital key safe before making off in the vehicles.

The cars taken were a black BMW M Sport, valued at £12,000, a white Vauxall Corsa worth £10,000 and a black VW Golf GTI Si which was on sale for £7,500. A Breitling watch was also taken from a drawer in the sales office. Police believe the nature of the crime suggests it was an organised car theft gang which targeted the second-hand car pitch.

Premier Car Centre was only opened eight weeks ago by Terry Ormesher, 33, from Euxton. It is his first dedicated car sales lot after working from home and at dealerships.

He said: “It’s a big blow as we’ve not been open long. It’s very frustrating. I got here on Monday morning and realised straight away that something had happened. “It seems to me that the gang that did this were very organised and knew what they were doing.

“It shows how security conscious we are that they had to climb a seven-foot brick wall to break through the wall panels with what seem to be sledgehammers.”

The registration plate number of the BMW is DN59 JBS and the Volkswagen PJ55 JPX.

Police have asked anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area overnight on Sunday or Monday to call them on 101.