MP calls for urgent meeting after a wave of cashpoint thefts hits the Harborough area

South Leicestershire's MP, Alberto Costa, has asked for an urgent meeting with Leicestershire's Chief Constable Simon Cole about the cash machine crime wave in Leicestershire.

Mr Costa has said he is "deeply concerned" about the spate of cash machine robberies in his constituency and across Leicestershire.

He says he has written to Leicestershire's Chief Constable, Simon Cole, to find out what can be done.

In the latest raid early this morning (Weds), at Countesthorpe Co-op, cash was stolen from the ATM at the store on Main Street.

Empty cash boxes from the machine were later recovered on Peatling Road, on the way to Peatling Magna, which is in the Harborough district, north-east of Lutterworth.

Officers would like to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard anything during the raid at 3.45am. It is believed the suspects may have used a dark coloured vehicle to leave the scene.

The Kibworth branch of the Co-op was hit last Tuesday, Lutterworth's Co-op in early September and Great Glen's in March.

But the crime wave extends across Leicestershire and beyond - a cash machine was hit in the Northamptonshire village of Crick in the early hours of this morning as well.

Mr Costa said, “I am deeply concerned by the recent robberies of ATM’s in my constituency.

The reported incident in Countesthorpe this morning is the third such robbery to take place in my constituency in the last three months (the others were in Lutterworth and Stoney Stanton) and events of this nature are of course of huge concern and alarm to my constituents”.

Mr Costa also added, “I understand that Leicestershire Police are currently investigating all three robberies in South Leicestershire, as well as the other incidences of ATM robberies in the county.

"However I have written to the Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police to express my alarm at the frequency of these robberies and to organise an urgent meeting to discuss what action the police have taken thus far and to seek guidance on the preventative actions local businesses may be able to take”.