Police close part of Toddington High Street following a ram raid at a convenience store

Bedfordshire Police were called just before 4:50am this morning (October 4) to a report of a ram raid at a convenience store on High Street, in Toddington.

The cash machine was removed and loaded into a white van via a hole in the roof by three men before the van, along with a BMW, headed off towards the northbound carriageway of the M1. A yellow digger was left at the scene.

A partial road closure is in place at the top of the High Street, near the junction with Market Square.

Drivers are being advised to plan their journeys and use alternative routes where possible to avoid delays, Police have thanked residents and road users for their patience.

Toddington resident Thomas Harold Watson said: “I regularly go to Toddy’s, another convenience store just up the road from where this incident happened, where a similar thing happened only a couple of months back.

"The fact that they still have their storefront boarded up and a crime so similar has happened again in such a short amount of time just shows that nothing was learnt.”

He added: “I have lived in the Toddington area from the age of nine and have witnessed it change completely. What was once a safe countryside village is now unrecognisable.

"My daughter goes to school in Toddington so I hate how close to home these crimes are now getting.”

Anyone with information is asked to report online quoting reference number 48 of 4 November.