Audacious thief steal £180,000 Rolls Royce

Jun 17 2009 By Emma Heseltine

A LUXURY car worth nearly £200,000 was stolen by a man posing as a potential buyer.

The seller of a Rolls Royce valued at £180,000 arranged to meet a potential customer at the Runnymede Hotel in Windsor Road, Egham on Wednesday June 10.

A man pulled up to the hotel in a chauffeur-driven Bentley, and approached the man selling the Rolls Royce. After threatening him, he then got into the driver's seat of the car for sale, and drove off in it.

Runnymede Neighbourhood Inspector, Roger Nield said: "This type of incident does not happen very often, and this is someone who's come in from outside the area and targeted someone in Runnymede.

"It has emerged that he got the Bentley through a limousine hire company, who were completely oblivious to the offence he was about to commit. He came in from the Thames Valley police region, and drove half a mile into Runnymede to do it.

"But we have CCTV images and we're working with other police forces on tracking down this individual as quickly as possible."

The man selling the Rolls Royce was not hurt in the robbery.

Inspector Nield added that anyone selling their car should be aware of their own personal safety especially if they're meeting at a neutral venue.
He said: "If you've got your car on the market, however you're selling it and whatever the value of the car, you need to be aware and you need to be careful.

"This man had obviously arranged to meet the potential customer somewhere up-market and where he obviously felt he'd be ok, but that doesn't guarantee your safety.

"You need to think about having someone with you, or arranging to meet in more familiar circumstances. This is a trick used quite often in other areas, particularly if there is a high value car involved."

Anyone with information about the robbery should contact Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.