Police fail to catch thieves red-handed

NOT A HAPPY MAN . . . Roy Tindall is angry at the lack of a response from police when his £10,000 generator was stolen. Picture: ANTHONY MILLER

A Chadderton businessman has made a formal complaint to police after his children confronted aggressive thieves who stole a £10,000 generator — but no officers answered their frantic calls.

Roy Tindall, owner of Reddish Vale Insulations, of Under Lane, said the vehicle’s tracker device alerted them that the generator had been stolen.

His son Roy (24), and daughter Gemma (19), used the internet to track the generator and called police to give them its location.

But when Gemma and Roy arrived at a lock-up in Middleton, the generator and four men in their 20s were there — but the police weren’t.

Eventually Roy convinced the thugs that officers were on their way and, after verbal abuse, the thieves drove off.

Mr Tindall snr said: “I have had a very apologetic phone call from an officer who said they had a lack of resources.

“My son’s call was downgraded from category one, which should have a 15-minute response, and was passed from Oldham to Middleton.”

The theft took place at 5.30pm on Saturday when the gang cut the locks off the Reddish Vale gates.

CCTV cameras captured them getting a large black 4x4 to tow the generator and trailer away.

Mr Tindall added: “It took them about 15 minutes.

“We get a text message to alert us when the generator’s moving. I know my son probably shouldn’t have gone to Middleton, but once he had phoned them he fully expected the police to be there.

“My son yet again phoned the police and they turned up at our office at approximately half seven, two hours after the theft was reported.

“We are very disgusted at how this situation has been dealt with and feel let down by the police.”

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “We will be looking into his complaint and doing everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened.”