Man arrested after ‘attempting to steal ATM from supermarket’ with crane in Sussex

Train journeys, including Portsmouth routes, were delayed and cancelled this morning (July 4) with passengers advised to allow for an extra hour’s travel.

At around 3.30am, a JCB construction vehicle was used in an attempt to remove a cash machine from the wall a Co-Op shop which shares a building with Barnham depot in Barnham, Sussex. Police stopped thwarted the attempted theft and arrested a man in his 40s after a ‘short foot chase’.

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Govia Thameslink customer services director Jenny Saunders said: ‘We were forced to close the depot until 9am when a structural engineer from the council confirmed it was safe to enter.

‘Until then, our crew were being organised to sign on at alternative locations wherever possible but we could only run a reduced service and there has been a lot of disruption to our customers’ journeys today for which I apologise.

‘We arranged ticket acceptance with other transport providers and we have been rebuilding the service. Regrettably, disruption due to the displacement of our colleagues and trains is expected to last into the afternoon.’

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Anyone delayed by 15 minutes or more can claim Delay Repay compensation at southernrailway.com.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: ‘Police arrested a man in Barnham on Tuesday morning (4 July) after stopping an aggravated burglary in progress at a supermarket.Officers had been called to a building site in Yapton Road at around 2.15am to reports of a small crane having been stolen.‘Response units were deployed to nearby cash machines and came across a crane attempting to steal an ATM from a supermarket in Barnham Road.‘The driver of the crane, a 43-year-old man from Ashford, Middlesex, was detained after a short foot chase and arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and criminal damage. He remains in custody at this time. A white Volvo XC60 was also seen to leave the scene.’Anyone who witnessed the incident, or has any information or footage that could help, is asked to contact Sussex police online or via 101, quoting serial 1624 of 03/07.