A community is in shock after mindless thieves rammed a JCB digger into the wall of a supermarket to steal the ATM cash machine.

Thieves targetted the Tesco Express Store in Front Lane, Cranham in the early hours of Wednesday June 1 demolishing part of the store’s wall and making off with their cash machine.

One passer by said: “I can not believe that something like this would happen in this day and age in an area like Cranham.

“Cranham is a lovely place to live and its a really nice community village and then something terrible like this happens.”

The thieves are believed to have stolen the JCB digger from the M25 where building work has taken place, before driving it along Front Lane and smashing it into the store.

The owner of The Plough Pub nearby was alerted in the early hours of the morning when he heard a loud crash and called the police.

Residents living above the supermarket also had to be evacuated due to fears for their safety.

Cranham ward Cllr Clarence Barrett said: “Its a bit of a shock for something like this to happen in a quite community like Cranham.

“I am no expert but I don’t think this is an oppertunist thief but more someone who has thought about it and knew the damage that they were doing.”

A structural engineer was in the supermarket on Wednesday assessing the damange caused to the wall by the thieves.

The store was closed on Wednesday and is due to remain closed until (waiting to come)

Resident Steve Robinson, who saw the damage done to the store on his way to work, said: “There’s a lot of local people that rely on the supermarket and they will be just walking down there so the people who have done this have affected a lot of people.”

-Thieves targetted Hamilton Service station in Eastern Avenue, Romford on Saturday May 28 at around 5.15am in an attempt to steal the Link cash machine.

Anyone with information should contact the police on 0300 123 1212.