Eight unique children’s vehicles, worth a total value of £32,000, have been stolen in an audacious raid in Malvern.
Owner of Rebel Replicas Steve Gardner has been left devastated that his life’s work has disappeared and has appealed for their return.
The vehicles are mini versions of Jeeps and Land-Rovers made for children up to the age of 12.
Each is designed and hand-built by Mr Gardner in his workshop. They represent his life’s work.
He began making them for his children as a hobby and set up Rebel Replicas 27 years ago.
“This is devastating,” he said. “It’s my life’s work gone in minutes. Some of the vehicles were prototypes which I made 26 years ago when I started the business. They are irreplaceable.”
The thieves struck late on Tuesday night. The vehicles were stolen complete with their own show trailer from the yard in Blackmore Park Road where they were stored.
CCTV footage in the yard captured the entire incident.
“They jumped over the fence and cased the place with torches at about 9.30pm,” Mr Gardner claimed.
“An hour later, they came back, hitched the trailer to a dark Land-Rover 90 Defender with a white roof and drove away.”
The trailer was found the next day (Wednesday), abandoned in a field near Defford.
Mr Gardner and his wife Michelle alerted the police and the port authorities in the hope that the vehicles will be recovered. The colours of the stolen Replicas are blue, maroon, green and yellow with zebra stripes.
“They are unique vehicles and it will be impossible to sell them on the open market – second hand Rebel Replicas hardly ever come up for resale,” said Mr Gardner.
The vehicles retail at about £4,000. They can be seen at places such as Center Parcs, Gleneagles, Bluestone Leisure and the Dinosaur Park in Tenby.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Malvern Police by calling 101 and following the prompts.
