‘It’s absolutely gutting'; 'Dream' Ford Transit van stolen from Havant Charity Stella's Voice brings humanitarian aid collections for Ukraine to stand still
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COLLECTIONS of aid by a Havant charity for Ukrainian refugees have been brought to a stand after their van was stolen.
A grey Fort Transit, belonging to Stella’s Voice, was taken from a supermarket car park this morning.
Operations director Wayne Keeping said it has brought their humanitarian operation to a stand still.
He told The News: ‘It’s absolutely gutting.
‘The amount of assistance we’ve had from the local people for this Ukraine appeal, and someone has decided to target our vehicle and stop all that happening.
‘We started ringing people round already, saying we have no way of collecting from people.’
Mr Keeping added the charity uses two vans, with the smaller vehicle being stolen from the Tesco Extra car park, in Solent Road, Havant, at 1.05am.
Both vehicles are licenced to be left on the premises.
Mr Keeping said after a charity worker told him it was missing, he saw a ‘big empty space’ where he had parked it last night.
He added that he has seen CCTV, provided by Tesco, of it being driven away.
Mr Keeping said the van – valued at £6,000 – would be hard to replace, and collections difficult without it.
‘We landed with a really good, reliable, second-hand vehicle, and it has been a dream for us,’ Mr Keeping said.
‘It’s going to have a massive knock on effect.
‘If we can’t collect aid, we can’t sort it, then we can’t send it.
‘It throws a spanner in the works that’s for sure.’
He urged anyone with information to contact Stella’s Voice, or the police via 101.