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Thieves steal £5,000 worth of bikes from family-run shop

Thieves smashed their way into a family-run bike shop and stole £5,000 worth of goods.

Published
Rob and Joy Hill show the damage caused by a break in at Sanders Cycles, in High Street, Chasetown

Sanders Cycles, in High Street, Chasetown, has been run by the same family since 1880.

The latest owner Joy Hill said the shop was broken into in the early hours of Thursday morning and they were alerted to the alarm going off just before 1am.

She said since she took over the shop from her parents nothing has happened like this.

"By the time we got here the police had already arrived," Joy added.

"The shop had been broken into through the front window and two bikes had been stolen, there was glass everywhere.

"One bike was a giant Stance electric bike worth £3,000 and the other was a Fathom electric bike worth £2,000.

"We closed in the morning yesterday because we had to wait for forensics to do their bit and we opened again about lunch time.

The damage visible inside the cycle shop

"It doesn't look very much like a bike shop at the moment, it's all boarded up.

"We're hoping to be back to normal very quickly though.

"The business has been in the family since 1880, it's a long-established family business.

"We've never had anything like this before so it's not very nice.

"My parents had a couple of break ins but more like kids messing around and just being messy.

"I don't like the thought that someone could have been into the shop and we could have spoken to them about the bikes, that's the bit I don't like."

A post on Facebook from the business about the theft was shared by thousands of people.

Staffordshire Police have been asked to comment.

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