Owner 'Shaken' After Berkshire Stamp Shopfront Destroyed And Safe Stolen In Ram Raid

A shopfront in a Berkshire village has been destroyed following a ram raid on New Year's Eve.

The front of the Coin and Stamp Centre along Hungerford's high street was reduced to a pile of rubble at around 5am on Sunday (31 December).

Bricks and glass were strewn across the front of the family-run business and onto the street.
Forensic officers returned to the scene on Tuesday (January 2) to gather further evidence.

The owner of the building and home next door, who has been living there for 20 years, says he is "shaken" after being woken by a loud noise.

Thames Valley Police confirmed that a safe had been stolen.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2...-in-ram-raid

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Someone trying to fill those annoying gaps in his or her Big Blue?

Would be an Imperial or an Ideal here.

So sad to see a business destroyed by thieves.

There is a reason one sees those 30 inch high steel posts, painted yellow and filled with concrete, installed in front of the entrance to many minimart stores. They are perfect targets at night - usually only one employee and carrying a decent inventory of tobacco and alcohol products. Great "smash and dash" set-up. Also getting popular with burger joints like McDonalds.

I only found out later in life that those things are called bollards.
Don

Excellent point Don. Bollards should have kept this method of "ram raid" stealing from happening.
I know bollards are also used to protect people from vehicle traffic on things like pedestrian bridges and trails.

Yabbut, not every landlord/association/village/etc. allows bollards to be installed. They're ugly, they don't fit in with a "charming" or "historic" look, etc.

Are these attacks common in the UK?

I suspect that ram-raids are relatively common, although you wouldn't normally find stories about them unless you read local news. They usually target cash machines, I think.

Actually, bollards, already, were used in the 18th century. They were installed to prevent carriages hitting the corner of a house or pedestrians. They do fit in a historic town look, just not the ugly coloured concrete bollards.

in a way heartening to think that somebody still wants to steal stamps

Probably the till and the coins, I'm afraid!

We shall be on the look-out for a new member posting 'I ' inherited' a huge stamp collection from my uncle in Berksshire. Is there any value in these stamps?'

In Tyneside 25 years ago there were probably more ram raiders than stamp collectors, The local stamp shop was safe because it was up a narrow staircase above another shop.

....wait until the first ev truck is used......self immolation and elimination or the "rammers"...

My opthamologist's office was rammed by a drunk driver in a truck a few weeks ago so they had to relocate for a while. It was a good 30 feet off the road in a small office park,