Anger as thieves target Wisbech Rugby Club and fire station in 'senseless' raids

Thieves caused damage amounting to more than £2,000 when they broke into Wisbech Rugby Club at the weekend.

And in another incident last week, vital equipment was stolen from a fire engine at Wisbech Fire Station.

A fire service spokesman described it as “senseless and selfish” and the Rugby Club chairman, Leonard Veenendaal, said he was disappointed and annoyed.”

“Our club is run by volunteers so this amounts to stealing from the community,” he said.

Mr Veenendaal said he was alerted by members of a club who were hiring the building for a function and had gone along to make preparations. They heard the security alarm sounding and when they went to investigate they discovered there had been a break-in.

He said that CCTV showed two individuals had broken into the building and after one unsuccessful attempt managed to get into the bar area by forcing the roller shutters and crawling through the hole.

They ripped the till off the counter and made a quick exit with it and with some bottles from the bar.

They also broke into an outside storage area containing rugby training kit, vandalising it but taking nothing.

“They must have known there was CCTV but they just didn’t care, “said Mr Veenendaal. “The damage was more of an issue than taking the till. Repairing the damage could cost us at least £2,000 and is a real blow at a time when we are trying to bounce back from Covid lockdowns.”

He said that one of club members, Sean Warden, kindly rearranged his work schedule to carry out some repairs on Saturday and make the building secure again – and that they carried on with the planned game on Saturday and improvised to keep the bar open minus its till.

The fire station incident happened in the late hours of Wednesday evening when equipment was taken from a fire engine.

A statement on Facebook said: “Although the crew would have still been able to respond to an emergency if needed, the equipment stolen is still used to help save lives and protect the community. It is a very selfish and senseless act that has been committed, and it’s important we try and recover the equipment.”

The fire service and police are now asking for anyone who knows of any suspicious activity in and around Wisbech Fire Station between 10pm and 2am from Wednesday to Thursday to come forward.

Police can be contacted via the web chat service or call 101, quoting incident number 94 of 15 September.”