North Yorkshire chef's stolen van recovered - with pies still inside
The stolen van containing two and a half thousand pies was located in Middlesbrough.
Last updated 4th Dec 2024
North Yorkshire Police say a van containing missing pies which were meant to go to York Christmas market has been returned to its owner - along with some of the missing food.
The van - which was found abandoned in Middlesbrough - still had some of Michelin Starred chef Tommy Banks pies inside but officers don't know the exact number.
Unfortunately officers believe the pies have "sadly perished".
Tommy Banks, who owns two restaurants and a pub in North Yorkshire, posted on Instagram on Monday morning to say his van with £25,000 of stock in the back had been taken from just outside Ripon over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Cleveland Police said the van had been found abandoned with false number plates in the Hemlington area of Middlesbrough.
A spokesperson for the force said there were some boxes in the van, but they could not confirm if all the stock was still in there until the owner collects his vehicle and confirms numbers.
The van was found shortly before 11.30pm on Friday but it had not been reported stolen at the time, police said.
A spokesperson said: "Suspecting that the vehicle had been stolen, officers arranged for the recovery of the van to a local garage so that it could be preserved for scenes of crime officers to carry out a forensic examination on the vehicle.
"The officer who arranged recovery of the vehicle also made a note on the police national computer against the VIN number of the van to say we suspected that this vehicle had been stolen and had been recovered by Cleveland Police.
"(On Monday) we received a report from North Yorkshire Police, who had received an online crime report that a van had been stolen and had noted our message on the police national computer that this vehicle had been recovered.
"The vehicle has been forensically examined today and the owner of the van has been informed and will collect his vehicle soon.
"We are pleased that the owner has now been reunited with his van, but just as sad as everyone else to hear that the tasty pies in the van have sadly perished."
Mr Banks had originally urged the thieves to drop the pies somewhere such as a community centre.
In an Instagram post following the update from police he wrote;
"The Pies are on the van but have been damaged and not refrigerated so are also written off unfortunately.
"Not the ending to this story I was hoping for. Just want to say a huge thank you to all the well-wishers and businesses who have offered to help us."