A JOINER has been left unable to work after his tools, worth thousands of pounds, were stolen from his van.

David Lumsden, 33, made the discovery on Saturday morning when he realised his Ford Transit van had been broken into and tools stolen.

His wife, Emily Lumsden, has now come forward in the hope the tools can be found and that the police will take action.

Mrs Lumsden, of Devon Street, Darwen, said: “It looks like the thieves have used as skeleton key to get in through the back of the van.

“This is the second time we’ve been targeted in the space of a few months.

“The lack of police action is absolutely disgusting.

“We’ve phoned the police and have been given a crime number but no one has come round.

“There is just a lack of interest.”

The latest incident took place at around 3.45 am on Saturday (June 8), while the other theft happened in October last year.

On both occasions, power and hand tools including a drill, hammers, impact driver, chop saw and planer, were taken, with more than £6,000 worth of items stolen.

The 34-year-old, who has three children, called for CCTV to be installed in the area.

She said: “There has been a spate of thefts in the area and a robbery and Whitehall residents want to work together to tackle this.

“We’d like to see the council install some CCTV, as there is currently no deterrence for these people with a lack of police on the streets also.

“My husband is a hardworking tradesman and this has cost his business a lot of money and left hum unable to work.

“The people that have done this are absolute scum.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 8am on June 8 to reports that tools had been stolen from a van.”

Contact the police on 101 quoting log number 303 of June 8.