Mini man pins hopes on CCTV for recovery of engines

Buy photos » The engines are taken without the owner’s permission. (s)

A MINI enthusiast is hoping CCTV he installed at his Rugby home will help find two men who took car engines from his driveway.

The Cornwallis Road resident, who did not want to be named, arrived home from work on Thursday August 9 to find two original Austin Mini engines had been taken. Both engines were at the far end of his drive hidden under coverings.

CCTV footage shows two men arriving outside his house in a flatbed truck and using a trolley to wheel away the engines before driving off with them shortly before 9am.

"On the film, they come onto my drive, take the engines and then start strolling off without a care in the world. They come out, have a quick look to the sides and then load up the engines in their truck. I was so mad watching it back.

"The engines weren't secured, but they were at the other end of the driveway and were covered over. There's no way they could have mistaken them for scrap as you don't just take stuff from the other end of someone's driveway which is covered over."

The engines are worth around £200 each and are the originals found in old Austin Minis.

The victim was to use them to restore an Austin he has owned for the past 13 years since his student days.

"I'm angry as I have been restoring the car for the past two years. It has been a time consuming and painful task, and the engine was the next step," he said.

"I've had the car since I finished university in 1999. I then took it on a trip round Europe which is when I met my wife, so it's quite sentimental to me, and the engines weren't easy to find.

"I'm just glad I installed the CCTV as it might help to trace them."

Warwickshire Police have been alerted and are investigating.

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