Man arrested after bid to steal supermarket ATM with crane

Police were called to a building site in Yapton Road, Barnham, West Sussex, at 2.15am on Tuesday

(dylan_ewart/Twitter)

A man has been arrested after a crane was used in an attempt to steal a cash machine from a supermarket.

Police were called to a building site in Yapton Road, Barnham, West Sussex, at 2.15am on Tuesday after a report that a small crane had been stolen.

Officers then made searches of nearby ATM sites and found a raid in progress at a Co-op store in Barnham.

An officer on the scene of attempted ram-robbery (PA)

A 43-year-old man, from Ashford, Middlesex, was arrested after being chased by officers on foot.

A Sussex Police spokesman 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.

Co-op on Barnham Road saw cash machine targeted (PA)

“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.”

The incident closed a train track nearby for several hours.