Gone in 60 seconds - fury as thieves loot van in Sheffield

Raiders took less than a minute to get into the Ford Transit van parked in the Wybourn/Manor Park area of the city during the early hours of this morning.

Peter Bryan shared this CCTV footage which he says shows one of the thieves picking the lock of his father's van on Manor Lane before he and another crook open the side door and help themselves to the contents.

His anger was directed not just towards the thieves but at the van's manufacturer, as he claims it was too easy for them to gain access.

Sharing the video with Ford on Twitter, he said: "Might want to consider making your vans a bit more secure considering this lowlife took less than a minute to pick the van lock - does not help reduce crime if you make it easy for them."

Mr Bryan said the man captured on CCTV was one of two thieves who arrived by motorbike just before 4.20am and appeared to know where the CCTV cameras in the area were so they could avoid showing their faces.

He added that it was the second time this year tools had been stolen from the van belonging to his 57-year-old father, who works in property maintenance and does not wish to be named.

A spokesman for Ford said: "We take vehicle security very seriously and continuously invest in security measures that are integrated into our vehicles to deter theft. Our security team routinely monitors and investigates new ways thieves are targeting our vehicles to maintain a high level of deterrence. We are constantly learning more about these latest theft techniques, assessing the effectiveness of software, hardware and design counter-measures, and engineering security upgrades into our vehicles.

"Last year, Ford implemented a service action in response to a potential security risk to Transit and Transit Custom models, specifically around the protruding key lock barrel and surrounding bezel, which could provide access to the cabin and load space if attacked.

"Ford issued an update to the lock mechanism software to prevent access to the load compartment of the vehicle unless the vehicle ignition is on or it is unlocked with the remote key fob. This software update was also introduced in production, and the details provided to dealers so that it can be retrofitted to customer vehicles."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.