BBC
one CRIMEWATCH
Can you help solve this crime?
Yesterday the North Yorkshire Police reported the most audacious case of vegetation removal on record. No fewer than 11 gangsters, posing as Nidderdale AONB conservation volunteers, worked in broad daylight to remove meadow vegetation from a 1/4 mile roadside verge on Cow Pasture Lane. The whole operation took only 5 hours.
CCTV image of verge before the gang arrived.
the heist - not a blade left standing.
Two of the gang, obviously well trained in the art, cut a whole year's growth with strimmers...
whilst the rest of the group quickly raked and forked it to the edge of the verge where it was left to compost:
The gang used old fashioned hay rakes...
...often working together to produce enormous rolls of hay.
This individual grinned cheekily at the CCTV camera,
knowing she was being filmed.
One passer by, a man aged 52, was reported as saying "It was amazing to see the speed at which they worked. I didn't realise they were bogus - and there was I congratulating them on their efforts."
A local resident - a woman of 39 - was less congratulatory. "I was in tears" she said. "A year's crop gone in no time. The verge just doesn't look the same any more. And what's more the group seemed to have no shame about what they were doing."
When taking their breaks the criminals lolled
in open view of the road...
...and even taunted onlookers with the box of
home made chocolate chip cookies.
A Nidderdale AONB spokesperson felt that, although the job will do wonders to increase the biodiversity of the verge next year, he would have preferred it to have been done by the real NCVs who are now short of something to do.
Do you recognise any of these faces? If so - please contact the BBC CRIMEWATCH team immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment