Huthwaite garage owner's 'heartbreak' over stolen charity box

The charity box, raising money for the air ambulance service, was stolen from the BP garage on Sutton Road, Huthwaite, on Wednesday, September 7, just before 1am.

Garage owner Sivapalan Krishanand, aged 53, said: “It was so shocking, because being in this business you do expect that theft is something that comes with the territory.

“However, knowing a charity box of all things has been stolen, which was raising money for emergency service workers, is heartbreaking. I am just very disappointed.

“It is massively disrespectful to the emergency workers but also to the community who have donated.”

The incident was captured on CCTV and has been reported to Nottinghamshire Police.

Mr Krishanand, from Nottingham, said: “It seems it may have been a couple working together.

“We think a woman purposely broke a bottle of wine to distract the staff member at the till.

“When the staff member went to sort out the spillage, a man she entered with is then seen on CCTV taking the charity box.

“I wanted to speak out about this and raise awareness within the community and encourage others to be vigilant.

“It is one thing stealing from the store, which is upsetting in itself, but stealing from charity is just very sad.

“As a store and community, we have done so much to support emergency service workers, especially over the last few years with the coronavirus pandemic.

“It just feels very upsetting that somebody would even think about doing this.

“We have reported the incident to the police and they have launched an investigation.

“We are hoping the couple do not do this again and if anyone in the wider community knows of them, please speak up.”

Nottinghamshire Police are investigating.

A force spokesman, said: “We are aware of this and investigating what’s happened.

“Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting incident 760 of September 9, 2022.”