A Co-op store was ram-raided yesterday evening just half an hour after it closed for the night. 
A police cordon has been put in place The Lincolnshire Co-op on Churchill Drive, Newark, was ram-raided for its cash machine by three men in an Isuzu 4×4.
They attempted to remove the cash machine from the wall but were unsuccessful. The store re-opened at 4pm today (Wednesday). Nottinghamshire Police said it is believed nothing was stolen. An eye witness said they were alerted by a large bang at around 9.30pm – 30 minutes after the store closed. They said they believed it to be children larking about but when they looked outside, they saw the 4×4 repeatedly reversing into the shop front. “I looked and the 4×4 was reversing towards the shop. It was causing such a bang and there were bricks falling out of the wall. “Three guys got out and they were trying to attach the cash machine to the 4×4. “They didn’t seem able to do it so they looked like they were trying to break into it.
“I couldn’t be sure whether they got the cash box out of it or not. “They got back in the 4×4 and shot off down Clarke Avenue. “It was blooming terrifying to watch.
“It seemed so early to be doing something like that. “You would have thought it would have been the early hours. “The manager had only been gone a short while and immediately got a call to come back.”
Police were at the scene along with Co-op staff on Wednesday morning. There was a gaping hole in the Co-op frontage and rubble and the metal security shutter lay on the ground. Electrical cabling was hanging down from the ceiling. The cash machine could be seen lying on the pavement amid the rubble. There was debris that appeared to be from the vehicle involved too inside the police cordon that included a hub cap and shards of plastic bumper. A number of other people at the scene expressed their shock at what had taken place. A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said the ram-raid was reported just before 10pm yesterday. He said an Isuzu 4×4 reversed into the front wall of the shop and an unsuccessful attempt was made to remove a free-standing cash machine. He said police officers located a maroon Isuzu in Long Bennington overnight which matched the description of a vehicle stolen from North Yorkshire.
The vehicle has been recovered. He said no arrests had been made. Police are waiting for a structural engineer to assess the building before they can inspect the scene.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Co-op said: “We’re aware this has happened and we’re working to get the store open later this afternoon or this evening.
“We’re working with the police.”