A TREE surgeon who had £30,000 worth of equipment stolen from his storage unit claims to have been told by police that the burglary wasn't big enough to investigate further.

Andrew Williams, who owns Tree Services Limited, had 15 chain saws along with other equipment stolen during the nighttime raid on March 26.

Despite his storage units being covered by security cameras, pictures of the burglars weren't clear enough for police to make out an identification.

"I employ about 10 lads who all live locally and some of them were off on a skiing holiday on the Saturday so parked their vehicles at my yard," said Mr Williams.

"I got a phone call at 6.30am from them to say someone had broken into one of the craters and overturned it.

"When police arrived they told me to keep an eye on eBay for the items but nothing came of it. They rang me back this week to say that they could go no further with the case because of budget constraints."

Also stolen during the raid in Woofferton, near Leominster, were eight climbing kits, four leaf blowers, safety helmets and climbing irons.

Mr Williams added: "The theft has had a big effect on my company because I have had to replace all of that kit.

"Fortunately that week four of my employees were going skiing, otherwise I would have had to lay them off.

"I am back on my feet now but one more hit like that would have a big impact.

"The two police officers who investigated were really helpful but the problem is the people above them who are not prepared to spend money on investigating it."

Mr Williams claimed that two similar crimes were also committed within the local area the same week which also remain unsolved.

He added: "It wasn't until I told the police about the other two burglaries in the same area that they knew. They should know these things and I shouldn't have to tell them that five miles away another business was broken into and three miles from there a similar burglary happened.

"I lost £30,000 worth of kit, a businesses in Kingsland lost £15,000 worth and the other £5,000 worth.

"Basically police told me they have closed the case although they haven't done much investigating."

In response a police statement said: "All lines of enquiry, including forensics, have been followed and unfortunately have not provided sufficient evidence to seek the prosecution of those responsible to date.

"The investigation is ongoing. This has been linked to an attempted burglary in the same area.

"We take all incidents of crime reported to us seriously, and will follow all avenues available to us."

If anyone has information about the incident, please contact police on the non-emergency number 101 quoting incident reference number 140S of March 26.