Dad's horror after entire front of his van is ‘stripped’ by balaclava-clad thugs

A dad has been left horrified after two balaclava-clad thugs ‘stripped’ the entire front of his van.

David Leyland, who lives in Standish, woke up on Tuesday morning (September 26) to find the bonnet of his Peugeot Partner van had gone. 

The courier said he checked nearby CCTV footage and to his horror spotted two people wearing all black and balaclavas tiptoeing towards his van at 1.20am, LancsLive reports.

In the footage the thieves are captured removing the van’s bonnet before proceeding to strip it of further parts leaving it a wreck. 

Over the course of two hours the thieves are seen going back and forth seven times from David's van to their own getaway vehicle before leaving just after 3.30am. 

David, who initially thought that someone had crashed into his car overnight, said: “They've taken the bonnet and they've taken all of the front end which is the bumper kind of thing, it's a big unit on them.

"They've taken the headlight unit, the inter cooler, radiator and I believe, I didn't notice this at first but they've also taken my air conditioning unit and power steering.

"They've not even had to break into my car, smash the windows or anything. So the alarms haven't gone off, no sensors have been triggered, they've just stripped it from the front. It's crazy."

David says that similar incidents have also happened in Pemberton,Chorley and Billinge in the last two weeks. Not only has David got to sort out the issue of his van with his insurance company, but for as long as he doesn't have a vehicle, he isn't able to work.

The self-employed courier added: "Well I'm not OK because I can't work. The way they [mechanics] were going on, they're saying it could be like eight weeks.

"If my theory is right and the parts are in