How the Grinches stole Christmas! Moment gang of brazen thieves make off with 300 festive trees from seller’s yard as owner slams ‘sickening’ raid
- A gang of three thieves has been caught on camera stealing 300 Christmas trees
- Men caught on CCTV at yard at Pines and Needles in Wimbledon, south London
- Owner Josh Lyle described it as ‘sickening’ and said it is a ‘real kick in the teeth’
A gang of thieves has been caught on camera stealing 300 Christmas trees worth £30,000 from a pop-up shop in a brightly-lit yard.
The three men were caught on CCTV dragging trees from the yard at Pines and Needles in Wimbledon, south London, into a black van on Tuesday 24.
Owner Josh Lyle described the incident as ‘sickening’ and said it is a ‘real kick in the teeth’ in light of coronavirus restrictions which have impacted their sales this year.
Footage shows one man dragging the Christmas trees, bound in netting, to the gate at the Wimbledon Park yard while two others take it in turns to load them into the back of the van.
A gang of thieves has been caught on camera stealing 300 Christmas trees worth £30,000 from a pop-up shop in Wimbledon, south London on Tuesday 24
Pines and Needles posted to their Facebook page on Sunday: ‘Where’s the Christmas spirit?’
The business was set to open on Wednesday 25, the day after the trees were stolen, after the government gave sellers the go-ahead to open on Saturday 21 November.
Director Veronika Kusak told MailOnline: ‘It is 300 trees which are probably around £100 each.
‘I guess it is just a kick in the teeth that the last thing you want, especially when you have a shortened amount of time to sell them, is that you are losing a significant amount of stock from one of the stores.
The three men were caught on CCTV dragging trees from the yard at Pines and Needles in Wimbledon, south London, into a black van on Tuesday 24
One man appeared to carry the trees into the back of a van and helped to load the trees in the brightly-lit yard
‘The bonus I guess is that the yard is fabulously well-lit, as you would expect from any Christmas tree seller, so they have got some brilliant footage.’
Ms Kusak added: ‘It is really annoying because it was only on Friday 20, around 10 days ago, that the government gave the go-ahead for trees to be sold as essential.
‘We have been holding and waiting and all of the trees have to be harvested regardless.
‘That is 100,000 trees we have harvested in our plantations in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire in Scotland.
Owner Josh Lyle described the incident as ‘sickening’ and said it is a ‘real kick in the teeth’ in light of coronavirus restrictions which have impacted their sales this year
‘We had all of these trees being ferried down to London anyway. On Friday 20 we were given the green light and it takes four to five days to get all of our stores ready across London – a really crazy time of year.’
She added: ‘For those trees to be robbed before we have opened was pretty bad.
‘The police were called on the Tuesday night by a neighbour and we reported it on the Friday once we had reviewed the footage.’
Speaking about supporting local, Ms Kusak ended: ‘Everyone is talking about buying independent and supporting local and Pines and Needles is very much is that and these are all British-grown.’
The business, which has 30 pop-up sites across London, has supplied trees to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex who visited the site in Battersea Park in 2016.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said they were contacted on Friday at around 7.40pm on Friday 27 following the theft of a number of Christmas trees.
A spokesman told The Mirror: ‘No arrests and enquiries into the circumstances remain ongoing.’
‘Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or tweet @MetCC and quote CAD6599/27Nov.
‘Alternatively, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.’
MailOnline has contacted Metropolitan Police for comment.