HSBC bank in High Street, Alton, has become the latest victim of the area’s ram-raid epidemic after thieves ripped an ATM from the wall of the branch in the early hours of Friday morning.
A large yellow JCB telehandler digger has been abandoned at the scene having apparently been used to punch a hole in the side of the High Street branch, leaving masonry and other debris strewn across Cross and Pillory Lane.
The Post understands the JCB was stolen from Redrow Homes’ Hop Field Place development on the Basingstoke Road, driven down Lenten Street and across Market Square after the thieves removed a bollard to gain access to Cross and Pillory Lane.
Two Hampshire Police cars are at the scene and have closed off Cross and Pillory Lane to traffic and pedestrians.
The HSBC cash machine is one of the most regularly used in Alton, being the closest ATM to the town’s Tuesday and monthly markets.
Although not yet officially linked by the police, the incident is the latest in a series of attempted cash-machine thefts in Hampshire and neighbouring Surrey.
The Post believes it is at least the 38th ATM theft to hit the area since February 2017.
It also comes just days after Halifax bank confirmed it would be closing its branch in West Street, Farnham permanently after another stolen JCB was used to rip the cash machine from the Grade II listed building in August.
Two motorbikes were used in a "fast and calculated" raid on Andre Noir jewellers in Lion and Lamb Yard, Farnham, in October.
And in another recent incident, in July the West Meon Hut BP petrol station on the busy A32/A272 junction, was left seriously damaged by thieves who failed in an attempt to rip out a cashpoint with a digger.
The Post has requested a comment from Hampshire Police, but anyone with information relating to the raid is encouraged to call the force on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.