Hundreds of litres of fuel have been stolen from an emergency response vehicle belonging to Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service.
The vehicle – based at Cirencester fire station and used to transport a high volume pump to major flooding incidents – also had its fuel lines severed and is now out of service.
Cirencester station commander, Jeff Neathway, said: “Fuel theft is on the increase as prices rise but it’s hard to believe that anyone would target the emergency services in this way. The people responsible have deliberately taken an important vehicle out of action, which could affect our capability to respond to a major national incident.”
The pump was supplied as part of the New Dimension project to allow fire and rescue services to deal with major flooding.
Gloucestershire police are conducting an investigation into the theft.
