A Nottinghamshire retailer has praised his local police force for successfully intercepting a cash machine theft at one of his stores last month.

Tristan King told Better Retailing the police were called to Spar Wesley Road in Retford on 14 March at 3:30am after neighbours spotted heavy machinery ramming the ATM.

“The police were absolutely fantastic,” he said. “They arrived so quickly to the scene that they were able to stop the criminals from taking the ATM out of the wall. We lost a day’s trade and are looking at £30,000-worth of damage.”

King stressed he had wanted to remove the ATM for a while due to a drop in usage since a transaction charge was added, and it is emptied at the end of each day.

“I would urge retailers to consider whether it is worth having an ATM if it isn’t being used, because they are a huge risk for ram raids, which are usually premeditated,” he said.

The store was closed for 24 hours, and King praised his symbol partner, AF Blakemore, for their support during the process.

“Something like this does have an impact on you not just business wise, but mentally,” he said. “We were thinking of doing a refit, but will now have to bring this forward after what’s happened.”

Two men, aged 41 and 49, were detained shortly after the incident on suspicion of commercial burglary. The 41-year-old was further arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker after an officer was grabbed by the neck during the arrest.

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