A message from Woodhouse Parish Council has ben circulated to Parish councils in Leicestershire and Rutland warning them to be aware of suspicious activity involving ‘official looking’ thieves.

The message says the thieves are touring this area trying to steal red telephone kiosks. If you have one, please try to monitor it and get close neighbours involved.

They should call police 999 if anyone is ‘working’ on it.

The vans that have been seen in this vicinity are white and the two numbers seen so far are:

PK60 FVL
on a small VW van with rear opaque windows – no tax or MOT – Seen parked up and
PK60 YVN
on a Ford transit – no MOT but taxed – seen with men at work.

Those in the transit were wearing high-vis and the rear of the van is painted with red and white stripes, like Highway maintenance vehicles.

This morning, they were working with a pneumatic drill and were trying excavate [a phone box] from its surroundings.

They asked a passer by ‘if there were any more red hone boxes in the area’ so are clearly bold and ambitious.

Fortunately, the passer-by told a neighbour (who is former cllr) and knew that our box is Grade II Listed and can’t be removed legitimately.

It is on a C class road that is a through road to the M1 and pretty busy.  But only the passer-by thought it might not be legit.

Police have been informed and the two crime numbers for 14 Feb and 22 Feb are 599 and 255 with Leicestershire Police.