FOUR men have been charged after a gang tried to steal a cash machine on the outskirts of York.

North Yorkshire Police were called to York Road, Elvington, in the early hours of Sunday, after thieves tried to make off with a freestanding ATM near industrial units and the Rebecca's Kitchen sandwich bar.

A police spokesman said officers were called to the scene at about 12.30am on Sunday, and four men were arrested and taken in for questioning.

They were all later charged with attempted theft of the ATM. One of the men was also charged with dangerous driving and failing to stop for police.

Pictures posted on twitter by a North Yorkshire Police officer showed a badly-damaged BMW at the scene of the attempted theft, and the machine itself with its front cover open and a police cordon around it.

 

 

One local worker, who did not wish to be named, said they had noticed the ATM had been covered with a large tarpaulin, but had not heard about the attempted theft. They said they believed the ATM had been out of service a number of times in the past six months.

They said: "The machine has been there for years and years, and it's been stolen previously.

"The garden machinery place was broken into three weeks ago and the cash machine now, there are obviously some naughty people around. I'm very pleased to see police making progress. It's a sleepy village, and there are some people who ruin it for everyone."

York Press:

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In the past six months, North Yorkshire Police has been working with forces in South Yorkshire and Humberside, after a spate of ATM thefts around Yorkshire.

There have been at least ten thefts of cash machines since January, when thieves used a JCB to break an ATM free from the wall of the CoOp in Haxby.

Since then, thieves have used stolen vehicles including JCBs and 4x4s to remove ATMs from brick walls or smash their way into garages to access them, before dragging them away.

Three men, aged 27, 26 and 25, from the Doncaster area were arrested in March in connection with a number of similar offences across the region. They are currently on police bail.

All four men arrested on Sunday were later released on bail and are due before magistrates in York next month.