A couple whose motorhome was stolen from their driveway say their dreams of an adventure-filled retirement have also been taken away.
The distinctive Pilote model, one of only around ten such vehicles in the whole of the UK, was stolen from the driveway of a home in High Street, Gringley on the Hill, on Friday night.
Two thieves were captured on CCTV as they broke into the vehicle and drove it away shortly after midnight.
The owners explained: “We have been planning our retirement dream to buy a motorhome and to travel the UK and further afield for more than a year. After much research we found our perfect motorhome in February 2020 – a Pilote 696D.
“We chose this model very carefully and decided that it was important to us to have the interior options of colours to be exactly what we wanted. This meant that we had to order the motorhome to be made to our specifications and would take four months, but we were happy to wait to get exactly what we wanted.
“The motorhome was delivered in August and we enjoyed three wonderful trips before the pandemic started to hit hard again and our plans for travelling were again put on hold.
“We are devastated that all our hard work, our plans and our dreams have been taken away so easily. We appreciate any help or information that would lead to us getting our motorhome back.”
CCTV footage from the night in questions shows two men arriving at the scene before trying, and failing, to disable the camera. After breaking into the vehicle they spend several minutes interfering with the ignition before getting it started and driving it away.
PC Scott Chambers, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This has been a really distressing experience for the owners and we are determined to reunite them with their property and to punish the people responsible for stealing it.
“This is a very distinctive vehicle so we’d like to speak with anyone who may have seen it in the early hours of Saturday morning or in the days since.
“We’d also like to appeal to anyone who may recognise these two men from these CCTV images. Their faces are covered but these are still very clear camera images – despite their best efforts to disable it. They are also wearing distinctive clothing that may jog some memories. If you have any information please call police on 101 quoting incident 158 of 14 November.”
