Wiltshire nursery devastated after second minibus stolen and destroyed
It comes just seven months after their first suffered the same fate
A Wiltshire nursery has told us of their devastation after their minibus was stolen and set on fire earlier this week.
The Ford Transit minibus, owned by Sunflowers at Grafton, was stolen on Monday night (1/4) and police were called to reports of a vehicle on fire in the East Kennett area in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Sadly, it's not the first time the nursery has been targeted, with a similar incident happening in 2023, where a 15-seat minibus was stolen and set on fire.
Business Manager for Sunflowers Nursery, Sue England, told Greatest Hits Radio of they're trying to process what's happened.
"We are still devastated," she said, adding: "But we're a pretty resilient bunch, so we're just kind of getting on and making plans and sorting stuff out.
"That's really what we've got to you've got to do. We've got families who rely on us, we've got families that we support and that's our priority."
Minibuses key to wraparound care
The Nursery doesn't just care for babies and pre-school ages, they also provide breakfast and after school clubs and holiday camps for primary school children.
Sue said the buses were a key part of what they do.
"It was a blow losing one last year, but we now find ourselves in a situation where we are having to think about replacing two vehicles rather than rather than one, which is quite a mountain to climb because the costs associated with both lease and purchase of minibuses have escalated massively in the last five years, so that's going to be quite a challenge."
It's not yet understood why the van was stolen, but the first theft was for parts.
Both vehicles were Ford makes and Sue said they won't be buying one again.
"They are, as we now know, gold dust for parts. The minibus stolen last year had its engine taken out before it was set ablaze. We don't know whether that's what had what happened with this one, but our understanding is they're targeted for parts."
The incident hasn't impacted the nursery's day-to-day running too much as it's taken place during the Easter Holidays. Sue says they'll just have to do things a bit differently when the children return.
"We've got a plan, we've got a number of options in place for the start of term, which is in a week's time," she said, adding "As this has happened during the holiday, we don't have the immediacy of having to get plans in place, but we've got options for the for next term."
Strong community response
Sunflowers had increased security around their remaining minibus last year after a fundraiser, but Sue said they'll be looking to beef it up further in the wake of a second theft.
"Many people said to us,'if somebody wants that, they'll find a way to get it', but the more security precautions got in place, the greater deterrent effect.
"So we'll be looking at how we deter future thefts," she said.
Sue has thanked the local community for it's support following the theft.
"We're very firmly embedded in our community and we've had a lovely response, you know, very supportive from our families here and from friends around the community," she said.
"Which has been marvellous, and those support messages of support and the offers of help mean a great deal to us and help to restore some what one's faith in humanity, really."
Police in Wiltshire are investigating the theft are asking the public to contact them if they saw any suspicious activity in the area of The Green, East Grafton or East Kennett, as well as calling on local people to check any CCTV footage they may have.