A MAN woke up to discover crooks had so badly stripped his car it was little more than a shell.
Seb Smith, 24, was left devastated when he discovered his Peugeot 208 had been targeted by car thieves in Harborne, south-west Birmingham.
BPMSeb Smith was devastated after car thieves stripped his Peugeot 208[/caption]
The 2015 model had its bodywork ripped off and stolen and the windows smashed on the morning of February 11.
The thieves also stole the number plate.
Seb said: “I panicked when I saw it. I thought: ‘What is that? What has someone done to my car?’
“I love my car and was really scared. I rely on it every day. It looked so nice, now it looks like a shell.”
Residents all over the city have been hit by robbers stealing parts from vehicles, in particular Toyotas, Citroens and Peugeots.
Seb took to a Harborne Facebook page to detail his experience which prompted others to say it had also happened to them.
Seb, who works for Ikea in a call centre, parked his car in a space next to Richmond Hill Road at about 6pm last Friday and was alerted that thieves had struck the following morning.
He said: “I struggle with anxiety and my breathing went really fast.
“We live in a high-rise and the CCTV did not pick it up. I did try to ring the police and they said to report it online.
“They have closed the case because of lack of evidence to follow up on. I did try to ring the insurance and reported it online.
“They said they would get back to me in 48 hours. I don’t know but the car might be written off.”
He added: “We will struggle financially. We have to leave our property because our landlord is selling up. I would say to everyone: ‘Park your car in a garage and where there is CCTV’.”
West Midlands Police say vehicle crime is a “force priority” as victims are targeted across the region.
BPMSeb fears the car will have to be written off[/caption] Read More