A stolen van that contained 2,500 pies belonging to a Michelin-starred chef has been found by police, but the food inside has “sadly perished”.
Tommy Banks, who owns two restaurants and a pub in North Yorkshire, posted on Instagram on Monday morning to say his van with £25,000 of stock in the back had been taken from just outside Ripon over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Cleveland Police said the van had been found abandoned with false number plates in the Hemlington area of Middlesbrough.
A spokesperson for the force said there were some boxes in the van, but they could not confirm if all the stock was still in there until the owner collects his vehicle and confirms numbers.
The van was found shortly before 11.30pm on Friday but it had not been reported stolen at the time, police said.
We are pleased that the owner has now been reunited with his van, but just as sad as everyone else to hear that the tasty pies in the van have sadly perished
Cleveland Police
A spokesperson said: “Suspecting that the vehicle had been stolen, officers arranged for the recovery of the van to a local garage so that it could be preserved for scenes of crime officers to carry out a forensic examination on the vehicle.
“The officer who arranged recovery of the vehicle also made a note on the police national computer against the VIN number of the van to say we suspected that this vehicle had been stolen and had been recovered by Cleveland Police.
“(On Monday) we received a report from North Yorkshire Police, who had received an online crime report that a van had been stolen and had noted our message on the police national computer that this vehicle had been recovered.
“The vehicle has been forensically examined today and the owner of the van has been informed and will collect his vehicle soon.
“We are pleased that the owner has now been reunited with his van, but just as sad as everyone else to hear that the tasty pies in the van have sadly perished.”
Mr Banks said in the Instagram video that the stock – including steak and ale, turkey and butternut squash pies, as well as gravy and custard – was for York Christmas Market.
He urged the thieves to drop the pies somewhere such as a community centre, adding: “I know you’re a criminal, but maybe just do something nice because it’s Christmas and maybe we can feed a few thousand people with these pies that you’ve stolen, do the right thing.”
Mr Banks also asked anyone who is offered pies from someone who is not him to report them to the police.
Mr Banks’s video contained the caption: “I’m guessing the thieves didn’t realise they were stealing 2,500 pies along with the van! The pies are all in boxes with my name on so not very easy to sell.
“If you are the thieves and read this I urge you to drop the pies off somewhere. So we can at least give them to people who need food and they are not wasted.”
Mr Banks told the PA news agency: “What was really making me sad this morning, I thought suddenly they’re going to realise what’s in the back and ditch the food.
“We talk about zero waste and when you’ve got just short of a tonne of food that’s probably been ditched, it would be good if it could find its way to people who need it.”
He added that his team were “much less bothered about the van as they’re bothered about the pies” as it was a week’s worth of stock.