Raiders left shortchanged after nabbing empty ATM

THEY should’ve gone to Specsavers!

Hapless raiders were shortchanged yesterday after they ripped a disused and empty ATM from a wall.

The gang struck at the forecourt of the Texaco garage on Cork’s Model Farm Road in the western suburbs just before 3am.

But unknown to the raiders, the ATM had been decommissioned since December 9 and was empty.

It had been displaying a message advising the public that it was no longer in use but obviously the raiders hadn’t noticed. They left empty-handed.

There was no other damage caused to the filling station and it was business as usual yesterday.

Gardaí believe the bungling raiders stole a mini-digger, which was parked at the junction of Melbourn Road and Model Farm Road at about 2.45am, and drove it a few hundred yards west to the garage forecourt.

They then used the digger to rip the bank machine from the wall of the garage shop. Around the same time, a flat-bed tow-truck style vehicle entered the forecourt from the west and the raiders loaded the ATM machine on to the back.

It had been stolen earlier from an industrial park off the link road in Ballincollig, about two miles west.

It was then driven from the forecourt, it turned left and travelled a few hundred yards past McCarthy’s Bar at the former tennis village site towards Inchigaggin Lane, where a van was waiting.

Detectives believe the gang then transferred the ATM to the van and fled. The light blue Ford Transit was found abandoned off the Carrigrohane Road, near the County Hall, a short time later. It is believed the empty ATM was locked inside.

Gardaí sealed off the forecourt for several hours and conducted a detailed forensic examination of the scene. They have seized the digger, the truck and the van and were last night conducting more tests on each of the vehicles.

They are also examining CCTV footage from the garage in an effort to trace the raiders.

Gardaí appealed for anyone with information to contact them at Bishopstown Garda Station, 021-454 1012.

They are particularly anxious to speak to anyone who may have seen suspicious activity in either the Model Farm Road area, or around the industrial estates off Ballincollig’s link road, between 2.30 and 3.30am.

A spokesman said someone may have seen the gang driving the mini-digger towards the garage, the flat-bed truck, or the getaway van parked near Inchigaggin Lane.