This is the moment thieves were caught stealing a catalytic converter containing precious materials from a car outside a pensioner's home. CCTV captured the thief scouting out the property and vehicle, before a second man returns half an hour later to carry out the job, taking just four minutes to remove the device,
The car was parked on Pete Jeff's drive in Margam, Port Talbot, when the incident happened on September 30, at around midday. Pete has released CCTV footage of the thieves in the hope the culprits will be found.
"We don't use the car often as we are at home a lot, we didn't realise it had gone for about four days," said Pete. For more stories from the Port Talbot area, please click here.
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The 69-year-old retiree and his wife have now been without a car since the incident occurred, and have been struggling to get about with the help of family and friends. Pete said: "Me and my wife, we are both pensioners and we have been left without a car. We are all struggling at the moment and now we are going to have to find thousands of pounds to replace our car.
"The car wasn't worth much, its about 16 years old, I've had quotes for it to be fixed in the region of £1,000 as its the damage around where the catyalytic converter would be too. The car isn't even worth that."
Pete said they got in the car three days after it happened and the sound of the exhaust immediately let them know something was wrong. When they discovered the problem he looked back on his CCTV over the last few days to see if anything untoward had occurred. The issue was reported to police.
A spokesperson for South Wales Police said the force was called just before 2pm on Tuesday, October 4 following reports of a theft of a catalytic converter. The incident is believed to have happened on Friday, September 30, between midday and 2pm outside a property on Cwrt-y-Defaid, Margam.
Sergeant Craig Evans said: “We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry into this theft, including looking at available CCTV. This happened in the daytime and there may well be people who saw something suspicious in the area. I would urge them to come forward.”
If you have any detail that could assist the investigation please contact South Wales Police through this link quoting reference 2200336341.
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