THOUSANDS of pounds worth of tools have been stolen from vans in Bridport in a spate of thefts.

At least nine vehicles were targeted – mostly Ford Transit vans – and police believe thieves used a ‘master key’ to get in as the vans sustained no damage.

This follows five in the previous week at Uplyme, Charmouth and Lyme Regis.

Former Bridport Town Councillor builder Mark Parsons was among the weekend victims.

His vehicle was parked in Hospital Lane.

He said: “Fortunately they didn’t get away with as much as they could have done as the back of the van is such a mess. There was a £500 disc cutter they didn’t find but I lost an old chainsaw and a cordless drill. A site radio and a nearly new electric hammer drill. It all adds up to about £600 so it is not as bad as some of the others .

“It is disruptive and not what you expect.

He said he’d be storing his tools in his house from now on.

He added: “What I have to say about the thieves wouldn’t be printable.

“The trouble with the police advice of installing a motion sensor in the van you’ve got to go out and investigate it yourself and by the time you get there they have been and gone or if you catch them in the act the police won’t be there in time to arrest them.”

The thefts include vehicles parked in Pine View where a Bosch top saw, circular saw, jigsaw and hammer drill worth £1000 were stolen.

In West Road items stolen included rechargeable Bosch power tools, SDS drill, impact driver, skill saw, jigsaw, router, screw gun, planer and a reciprocating saw valued at approximately £1500.

In Alexandra Road tools and toolboxes were stolen, a powered Stihl disc cutter were stolen from Coronation Road, in Court Orchard 16v and 32v battery drills were stolen and another Transit was opened in St Swithin’s Road Thieves cut off a roof-mounted orange beacon and two front recovery lamps from a silver Subaru Forrester at West Allington and a Tom Tom sat nav was stolen, along with two child car seats , from a silver Ford Focus.

Police advise tradesmen who have to leave power tools in their vehicles that they place them inside a secure locked cage and alarm it and clearly mark all tools with a name/company and a unique identity such as post code/building number etc.

Bridport Acting Police Inspector Jamie Clark said: “It is quite unusual for people to have a master key although it has happened before elsewhere in Dorset.

“It is quite sophisticated and beyond your average car theft where locks are forced. It is concerning because they are able to override the van’s security that is why we are suggesting that people fit additional locks or devices that detect motion within the van that phone through to the owner’s mobile phone.”