Thieves ram-raided a Leicestershire tool hire store in the early hours of this morning using a stolen 4X4.
The gang, who used three vehicles in the raid at the Plantool Hire Centre in Leicester Road, Lutterworth, at 5.20am, got away with a quantity of tools.
The store in the town has been left badly damaged by the ram-raid during which a stolen Mitsubishi Shogun was used to smash into the premises.
According to Plantool's Managing Director Ben Jones, between £20,000 to £25,000 worth of tools were taken in the raid - which caused some £15,000 worth of damage to the building and a further £12,000 of damage to equipment inside.
The 4X4, which had been taken from Leicester, was abandoned after it collided with a car driven by a member of the public.
A Leicestershire Police spokesman said: "Police were called to a report of burglary at a business premises in Leicester Road, Lutterworth, around 5.20am today.
"A Mitsubishi Shogun was used to smash the window of a building and enter the premises. It's believed the Shogun was stolen overnight from Leicester.
"It was left at the scene after it was involved in a collision with a car belonging to a member of the public. No was injured during the collision.
"Substantial damage was caused to the window and the suspects made off in two other vehicles, a Ford Focus and a Transit van.
"Tools were stolen during the incident. Enquiries are in the early stages and officers are continuing their investigations at the scene.
"We would urge anyone who may have witnessed the incident to get in touch. Did you see three vehicles approaching the area or two vehicles driving away during the early hours of this morning? If so please contact us."
Ben Jones said: "We were ram raided at our Lutterworth site at around 5:45 this morning causing a large amount of damage to our premises and equipment ready for hire in the showroom.
"A number of brand new Hilti machines were stolen in the raid, many of which were battery tools which will be useless to the thieves as the batteries and chargers are kept off site."
Anyone with any information should contact the police on 101.
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