A British chef’s appeal to thieves to return stolen pies ended in disappointment when police recovered the van containing the cargo, only to find it was too damaged to eat. Tommy Banks, owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub, had his 2,500 pies taken from a van while it was parked in the city of York.
The pies were intended for a Christmas market and were valued at £25,000. Banks urged the thieves not to let the food go to waste and even offered alternative locations where they could drop off the pies. However, when police found the van in Middlesbrough, 30 miles from where it was taken, they discovered that the pies were badly damaged.
“This is just so much waste,” said Banks. “Sorry, it’s not a happier ending to this story.” The incident is the latest in a string of thefts targeting artisanal edibles in the UK food trade. A similar theft occurred in October, where nearly 1,000 wheels of artisanal cheese were stolen from London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy, valued at £300,000.
Police have arrested and questioned a suspect in connection with the cheese theft but have yet to recover the stolen goods.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/uk-chef-pies-stolen-christmas-appeal-009d0db2c524ac4fc7b3df45c5fac79a