Metal thieves steal bus exhaust

The damage to the minibus means pupils will miss end-of-term treats

Primary school pupils have been robbed of their end of year trip after thieves stole parts from their new adapted £30,000 minibus.

The youngsters with special educational needs will miss out on outings after the vehicle's exhaust system was taken for its precious metal.

Overmonnow Primary School in Monmouth, took possession of the bus three months ago with the help of charity donations.

Teachers say the children's end-of-term activities have been "destroyed".

The school was the first primary in Monmouthshire to be awarded with a bus by the Variety Club, and half the cost of the vehicle was met by Monmouth Rotary Club.

Head teacher Huw Williams said the theft was a major blow for the school.

He said: "The pupils are going to be very disadvantaged.

The repairs cannot be completed before the end of term

"They won't have their opportunities now to travel to weekly riding sessions, to weekly swimming sessions, and the trips to St Fagans to mark the end of the school year."

A CCTV camera was trained on the vehicle and the school is going through the tapes in the hope of identifying the thieves.

The minibus is being repaired but the work will not be completed before the end of the summer term.

Chris Lewis, who is head of the special needs unit, said they children could not believe what had happened.

Security measures

She said: "It means that the end of term has been really destroyed for some of our children.

"It means that they can't go out, they can't access any of the activities we've planned for the end of term. That's just been stopped."

One nine-year-old pupil described what he liked about having the mini bus.

"I like it because it's fun. We go out all the time. Swimming, horse riding. They shouldn't've done it."

The big worry for the school is that the thieves might return once the minibus is repaired so they have taken extra security measures to prevent them succeeding a second time.

Gwent Police Det Insp Peter Jones said the theft of catalytic converters was "an emerging issue" in the wider problem of thieves seeking metal to steal.

He said "That will cost the average person £700 to repair, but the converter will be sold for £80-100 as scrap."