A ENGINEER is appealing for help in tracing £10,000 of unique fishing reels stolen from his factory unit.
Garry Mills of Mill Tackle Engineering in Studley. hand crafted each of the 23 reels and all are missing the final element of the build – the reel seat.
Each one is engraved with the name of Perfection Angling Hampshire – the company which had ordered them – and carry a serial number from 01 to 23.
Garry is convinced the three thieves were opportunists and is appealing for anyone who is offered such a reel to get in touch with him or the police.
He said: “We’ve got them on CCTV – they at first tried the unit down from us and then came back up and managed to open our shutters.
“Every time a car passed on the road outside they were switching off the lights.”
The break-in on Redditch Road Poplars Industrial Estate happened at 1am on September 9 and lasted about half an hour. The thieves then returned at 4am to steal more goods.
“I arrived at work at 5.30am to put the finishing touches on the reels and get them ready for shipping out and saw the shutters were only half closed and my heart sank,” said Garry.
“I set up this business in 2001 and I’ve never taken a wage. I employed my son James in 2008 and now we have four people, and to be honest, losing these reels is going to hit us hard,” said the 53 year-old.
