Published: Sunday, 15th November, 2009 3:19pm

Police hunt for 'flashing lights' thief

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POLICE are looking for a sick souvenir hunter who stole a set of potentially life-saving blue flashing lights from the scene of a road smash and put a patrol car out of action.

Officers were dealing with a two-car pileup in atrocious weather conditions at the junction of Mole Road and Mill Lane in Sindlesham on Friday evening and had sealed off the scene to enable recovery and investigation work to be carried out in safety.

But between 6.22pm and 7.35pm someone stole the four blue flashing lights which were warning other motorists that the road was blocked by a badly damaged Toyota Corolla and a Seat Leon.

Nobody was hurt in the smash but PC Phil Hall, from Loddon Valley police station, said: "This was a dark and miserable evening with heavy rainfall and yet someone decided to come along and take the blue flashing lights from our road closure.

"This not only potentially put us and other road users in danger, but is also meant that our police car was not able to be used for any other traffic incidents that night as it did not have the appropriate equipment on board.

"The area was very busy at the time with lots of people using this route as a shortcut to avoid congestion on the M4, so I am confident that someone may have seen something that can help us progress our investigation."

Anyone with any information should contact PC Hall via 08458 505505 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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