London (AP) When police discovered the stolen van abandoned on Tuesday, with its savory cargo too damaged to consume, a British chef’s plea for criminals to return 2,500 pies inside was met with despair.
A staff member found the truck stolen, along with its load of steak and ale, turkey, and butternut squash pies meant for a York Christmas market, according to Tommy Banks, owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in the northern English county of Yorkshire. The estimated worth of the food is 25,000 pounds ($32,000).
The van was insured, according to Banks, but he pleaded with the car thieves to save the food. He recommended that they do the right thing and drop the pies off at a community center or another location in an Instagram video.
According to an update from Banks, the vehicle was discovered by police in Middlesbrough, some 30 miles from the scene of the theft, severely damaged and with stolen license plates. The pies, he added, were still inside but would have to be thrown out because they were destroyed.
There is just a lot of garbage. “It’s just garbage,” Banks stated in an Instagram video. I apologize, but this story does not have a happy ending.
The most recent theft of artisanal foods to disrupt the UK food trade is the pie robbery. A scammer acting as a wholesale distributor for a large French shop stole around 1,000 wheels of cloth-wrapped artisanal cheddar from London’s Neal’s Yard Dairy in October. The cheese weighed 22 metric tons and was worth 300,000 pounds.
The cheese has not been located despite a search by both British and foreign law enforcement, as well as an appeal by television chef Jamie Oliver. Police detained and questioned a 63-year-old male, but he has not been prosecuted.
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