Restaurant owner is forced to turn detective himself after police fail to attend scene of break-in - telling him to email them instead

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

A restaurant owner was forced to do his own detective work after police failed to attend a break-in at his business.
Ankit Vaghela was told by police to email them his evidence of the break-in because no officers were available to visit his Southampton restaurant after the early morning theft.
Thieves ransacked the business at around 4am, and Mr Vaghela had to pick up the pieces in the early hours of the morning.
He trawled the streets of the city centre, where he found stolen liquor bottles and a broken till drawer from the restaurant scattered on a nearby road.
Mr Vaghela says he is now thousands of pounds out of pocket after the group made off with around 20 bottles of alcohol and the till, which had £150 cash inside.
He is also having to fork out more than £1,000 on repairs to the glass door and £500 on a new till system.
The restaurant owner claims he was advised by a 999 call handler to send any CCTV footage in an email to the police, who would then pick up the case.
Mr Vaghela said the 'damage was already done' - and he's still yet to have a visit from the police.
The businessman was on annual leave when his staff alerted him to the break-in at his Indian restaurant.
A group of men were captured on CCTV smashing into Padharo, an Indian restaurant in Southampton, on July 31 before fleeing the scene a few minutes later.
'I got to the restaurant only five or 10 minutes after my staff called me,' Mr Vaghela said.
'I watched the CCTV and followed the group's tracks down the street, where I saw some of the stolen liquor bottles.
'I then discovered my broken till drawer further down, heading towards Hoglands Park.
'This is something the police should have done when I called them, but it was me.
'The police did not come down. They only wanted to see the CCTV.'
Mr Vaghela said he told the 999 call handler he was happy for police to visit him later in the day, but was again told to email evidence to the police force.
'There was no help from police at the time of the incident, but they said someone could come down within five days. No one did,' he said.
'It means nothing now, the damage is done. Officers were not willing to visit the restaurant.'
Although the front door was smashed and the interior heavily damaged, the restaurant could not afford to stay closed.
A statement posted on the restaurant's Facebook reads: 'Three men smashed their way in through our front door in the middle of the night.
'They stole expensive spirits, part of our till system, and damaged the space we have worked so hard to build.
'To see our restaurant like this is truly heartbreaking.
'As a small, independent business, times are tough enough without having to deal with this kind of violation and disrespect.
'It's a real blow, not just financially, but emotionally for our whole team.'
A spokesperson for Hampshire police said: 'We don't underestimate the significant impact business burglary has on victims and we do take cases very seriously when reported to us.
'Every deployment decision is based on informed risk assessments to make sure the most serious cases are prioritised, and officers are on scene where there is an immediate threat to life or there is crime in action.
'On this occasion, based on the initial information we were given regarding the offenders no longer being at the scene, our investigation could get underway without any immediate attendance.
'That investigation is progressing with lines of enquiry identified, such as CCTV.'