Wetherby Boots was ram-raided as vehicle used to smash into store - police confirm
A vehicle was used to smash into a Boots store in Wetherby over the weekend, police have confirmed.
The front of the shop in the Horsefair Centre, North Street, in the Leeds’ town, was ram-raided in the early hours of Sunday (March 22). One local shopkeeper described the aftermath as a scene of "devastation".
The pharmacy store suffered extensive damage with windows and shutters being smashed in the incident. Boots was closed yesterday, but is normally shut on Sundays.
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A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “We received a report at 4.47am yesterday (Sunday, March 22) of an ongoing commercial burglary at the Boots store in the Horsefair Centre, Wetherby.
“A vehicle was used to force entry with extensive damage caused to the front of the store and property stolen from within.
“Enquiries are ongoing. If anyone has any information that could assist the investigation into this offence, they are asked to contact Leeds CID via www.westyorkshire.police.uk/livechat or by calling 101, quoting crime reference 13260164474.”
A spokesperson for Boots added: “We can confirm that an incident took place at our Boots Wetherby Horsefair Centre store on Sunday morning.
“We are assisting the police with their investigation and will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so.”
A nearby shopkeeper, who does not wish to be named, described the damage as a scene of “devastation”.
They said: “It’s shocking, because I know Boots has been broken into a few times, but they’d put the metal shutters in to prevent that.
“The people who did it just don’t care, it’s scary because you wonder - what if it happens to us?”
They added: “I don’t know how much it’s going to cost to get it repaired. There’s debris all over the place.”
One shopper, who was visiting Wetherby from north Leeds, said they were “stunned” to see the damage.
“We love Wetherby but we’ve never seen anything like this happen before,” they told us. “It just shows that it can happen anywhere.”
Another local told us the scene was “unbelievable”, while a third resident added: “I’ve not seen anything like this in Wetherby for a long time. In general, Wetherby’s pretty good.”