Shock Over Birmingham Foodbank Van Theft
5 January 2015, 16:51 | Updated: 5 January 2015, 17:42
A Birmingham foodbank has expressed its shock after the van which was donated to it to help the needy was stolen.
The manager of a Birmingham foodbank has described the thieves who stole its much loved delivery van as “heartless”.
Patricia White has told Heart that the new year has started unfortunatley for Birmingham Central Foodbank after it was targeted on Friday. (January 2)
Heart’s been told that the van – which is used to deliver food parcels to the most vulnerable during the extreme winter months – was taken from its city based car park.
And with January being the busiest time of the year for the centre, the crime comes as an even harder blow.
Manager, Patricia White, said: "As the weather gets colder the our referrals double and the van is often used to pick up food donations and to deliver parcels to the elderly, heavily pregnant and the vulnerable who need emergency food but are unable to venture out during the very cold winter months."
Since the news broke of the stolen van, more than 15,000 people have taken to Facebook and Twitter expressing their anger and shock at what’s happened.
It comes two years after the vehicle was purchased with funds received from a donation.
Ms White said: "We've had numerous members of the general public kindly offer to deliver food parcels for us and we've even been contacted by a Smethwick based commercial van hire company offering us a vehicle for a week free of charge.
“We've been absolutely blown away by the response."
The van registration is YX55 WTO.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact West Midlands Police on 101.