E12,000 hijack reward
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by Karen Miles • A £12,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of criminals who abducted a P&O driver in a three-hour ordeal.
Police are appealing for information from any witnesses who saw a battered, old-style white Ford Transit van travelling in tandem with the P&O at-tic early on the morning of Monday 16 December.
They began to travel north from Scratchwood services on the M1 between 02:00hrs and 03:00hrs, ending up about 05:00hrs on the A5 near Towcester,Northants. The driver, who was treated afterwards for cuts, bruises and severe shock, was threatened at gun point, tied up with electric cable and hooded during his abduction.
lie had left P&O's west London depot to deliver his £120,000 load of alcohol in Milton Keynes for the supermarket Waitrose when he stopped at Scratchwood services to buy sandwiches.
He was approached by a tall, heavily made-up blonde woman who claimed her Transit van was broken down.
As he approached the vehicle he was bundled into the back of it by three white men. They threatened him with a gun when he refused to tell them how to take off the truck's demobiliser.
After leaving the Ml, possibly in the Northampton area, the four abductors drove on local roads and then stole the load of 813 cases of wines and spirits, leaving the driver abandoned on an embankment near Towcester.
P&O's insurers are offering the £12,000 reward: anyone with information about the attack should contact DS Hugh Livingstone or DC Dave Tower on 0181 200 1212.