Thieves stole a student's bike and stripped down a minibus for parts after targeting a specialist school in County Durham.
Intruders broke into the UTC South Durham site in Newton Aycliffe over the weekend and targeted a school mini bus and stole a bike from a shelter. The incident has been branded "frustrating" by the school and had an impact on students who were due to sit their GCSEs.
The incident came to light after site security at UTC South Durham were notified on Sunday evening that there had been a break-in with thieves stripping a minibus for parts as well as stealing a student’s bike. After assessing the damage to the minibus, site security concluded that the thieves had left it un-roadworthy as the majority of the front had been removed from the vehicle and taken.
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As well as targeting the minibus parts, the thieves broke a bike free from the designated student bike shelter and stole it, meaning a number of students travelling to school on Monday morning, some of which had a GCSE exam, were unable to access the usual school transport.
Fortunately, members of the teaching staff offered transport to the students who would have been unable to make it to school for their exam.
Tom Dower, Principal of the UTC said “This incident is deeply frustrating – it has impacted on our students sitting exams and travelling to their place of work as well as being time consuming and expensive to manage. However, I have been very proud to see our staff going above and beyond to ensure that our students’ high quality education continues”.
A police investigation has been launched but no arrests have been made.
A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said: "Police were called to reports of a burglary at South Durham UTC in Newton Aycliffe. The incident is believed to have occurred on Sunday night (June 18).
"It is believed the suspect stole a bicycle along with various parts from a minibus parked on the premises. Enquiries are now ongoing."
