HAIR-RAISING RAM RAID - Smash and grab yobs caught on CCTV ploughing into hair salon on moped before stealing curlers and hair straighteners
- 2 years ago
Ram raiders were caught on CCTV ploughing into a hair salon on a moped before stealing thousands of pounds worth of designer curlers and hair straighteners.
Footage inside the shop showed two people repeatedly ramming the shopfront causing huge damage to the glass doors and stealing at least £3,000 worth of stock - mostly GHD products.
The ram-raiding burglary took place at the Mark Mardell Hair Salon in Dartford, Kent, at about 5pm on New Year's Day.
The men were caught ramming into the shop three times before finally breaking through on the salon's CCTV and the registration of their Honda, which had L plates, was reported to the police.
The owner of the salon Mark Mardell said he is still "bursting into floods of tears".
He said: "It's been hard enough with the coronavirus pandemic but now this? I'm worried this will not put off my elderly client coming near the shop if they don't think it's safe.
"I'm a bit concerned about the knock-on effect.
"Right now we're looking at about £3,000 worth of stock stolen.
"The shopfront is a different kettle of fish. The two front doors were both buckled and the door frame was partly ripped in half.
"If they had just smashed the window we could have opened up today, but because of the damage, we have had to board up the shopfront.
"We want to open and be in as soon as possible and servicing our clients but we can't until we get the green light from the insurance company, which isn't open on bank holiday weekends.
"I was outside the salon yesterday, and people were walking by thinking we had closed down. It looks like we've boarded up.
"My first reaction was how did a moped manage to break through the doors?
"I've then tried to work out if they were kids or adults.
"But mostly, I was just distraught. It's been very hard for me to get my head around it."
While the salon has been in Dartford for about 10 years, the family have owned the hair business going back since 1932 with Mr Mardell as the third-generation owner.
He said: "It'll take more than a little moped ram rage to stop us from serving our clients and the people of Dartford."
Police would like to hear from any witnesses to the raid, or from any drivers passing the scene who may have daschcam footage that could prove useful in catching the thieves.
A police spokesman said: "We were called at 5.24pm on Saturday to reports of a burglary at a business premises on Market Street.
"Officers attended the scene and inquiries are ongoing.
ENDS
Footage inside the shop showed two people repeatedly ramming the shopfront causing huge damage to the glass doors and stealing at least £3,000 worth of stock - mostly GHD products.
The ram-raiding burglary took place at the Mark Mardell Hair Salon in Dartford, Kent, at about 5pm on New Year's Day.
The men were caught ramming into the shop three times before finally breaking through on the salon's CCTV and the registration of their Honda, which had L plates, was reported to the police.
The owner of the salon Mark Mardell said he is still "bursting into floods of tears".
He said: "It's been hard enough with the coronavirus pandemic but now this? I'm worried this will not put off my elderly client coming near the shop if they don't think it's safe.
"I'm a bit concerned about the knock-on effect.
"Right now we're looking at about £3,000 worth of stock stolen.
"The shopfront is a different kettle of fish. The two front doors were both buckled and the door frame was partly ripped in half.
"If they had just smashed the window we could have opened up today, but because of the damage, we have had to board up the shopfront.
"We want to open and be in as soon as possible and servicing our clients but we can't until we get the green light from the insurance company, which isn't open on bank holiday weekends.
"I was outside the salon yesterday, and people were walking by thinking we had closed down. It looks like we've boarded up.
"My first reaction was how did a moped manage to break through the doors?
"I've then tried to work out if they were kids or adults.
"But mostly, I was just distraught. It's been very hard for me to get my head around it."
While the salon has been in Dartford for about 10 years, the family have owned the hair business going back since 1932 with Mr Mardell as the third-generation owner.
He said: "It'll take more than a little moped ram rage to stop us from serving our clients and the people of Dartford."
Police would like to hear from any witnesses to the raid, or from any drivers passing the scene who may have daschcam footage that could prove useful in catching the thieves.
A police spokesman said: "We were called at 5.24pm on Saturday to reports of a burglary at a business premises on Market Street.
"Officers attended the scene and inquiries are ongoing.
ENDS