A sophisticated robbery has been carried out on an ATM in Stockport using a car and an attached chain to wrench the installation open.
The incident happened in the Bramhall area of the town on February 23rd, with three masked men armed with a sledgehammer breaking into the Spar store on North Park Road. They attached a chain to the cash machine and used the force of the silver Vauxhall Astra driving away to wrench it open and enable the criminals to steal the cash.
After fleeing in the Vauxhall, the men later abandoned the car and swapped it for a blue Aldi to continue their escape.
With the incident happening during the evening when the store was open, Greater Manchester Police are hoping dashcam footage from other motorists in the vicinity will help identify the criminals.
Incidents of this kind are not uncommon across the UK, with cars and chains frequently having the power to break open ATMs. Not all will take place when a building is open and people are around, as many cashpoints are located in external settings and can be accessed 24 hours a day.
The use of digital CCTV in Slough can help protect premises with ATMs, both by deterring would-be robbers and also helping to identify criminals, even if they wear masks – as members of the public presently have to do anyway when entering shops.
Instances of ATM robberies in Slough include a pair of incidents on the same September evening last year. Rather less sophisticated than the Bramhall heist, this first saw two men attempt to snatch cash from the ATM as a woman made a withdrawal, the Windsor Observer reported.
A member of the public intervened and the men fled, but later that same evening there was a similar incident when two men – possibly the same pair – tried to rob a man as he drew money from a different cashpoint.
CCTV can help when multiple incidents to take place by helping to establish if the perpetrators were the same in each case.
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