Luxury car dealer’s showroom was ransacked as two masked men smashed up the building and stole two expensive cars.
Co-owner of the prestigious family business, Whitson Prestige Car Vehicle Sales & Brokerage, Rory Collingbourne, was met with mass destruction as he made his way into work the morning of August 18.
At approximately 4am, two hooded men smashed the windows of the showroom located at an address off Whitson Road in Goldcliff, Newport.
The family are shocked and saddened by the damage. (Image: Whitson Prestige)
They also broke into the key box and wedged open the garage doors before driving off in two stolen cars.
“Words cannot express how upset we are right now,” said Rory in a video shared on Facebook.
“The vehicles that were taken were a BMW X3m with the registration LC71 VDX and a Mercedes C43 with the registration RF19 JVN.”
The stolen vehicles are worth a total of £85,000 combined.
(Image: Whitson Prestige)
The £32,000 Mercedes had only just been listed as for sale (Image: Whitson Prestige)
The family are working with Gwent Police to find the stolen cars and the two suspects, who are said to have arrived at the property in a Ford Focus.
"We are completely devastated by this incident. As a family-run business, we have worked incredibly hard over the years to build a strong reputation for the sale of prestige and sports cars across the UK, and we take immense pride in delivering the highest standard of customer service to our clients every single day," said a spokesperson for Whitson Prestige.
"To discover the extensive damage and the loss of vehicles on Sunday morning was devastating, I had to inform a client who was en route to collect their X3 M that the car had been stolen.
"We are also aware that we are one of multiple car thefts from Newport car dealers in the last few weeks, and we hope that justice is served for all those affected.
"We are determined to recover from this setback and will do everything in our power to continue serving our valued customers with the excellence they have come to expect from us."
Whitson Prestige specialises in luxury car sales and was founded by father and son duo Rory and Jon Collingbourne.
They are urging anyone that could have any information on the two culprits to let them know, or inform Gwent Police by calling 101, promising those who do come forward with relevant details ‘a reward.’
A spokesperson from Gwent Police said: "We received a report of a burglary at a property in Whitson Road, Newport at around 9am on Sunday 18 August.
"Between 3am and 4.30 on Sunday 18 August, an unknown person or persons have allegedly smashed a glass door and entered the address.
"Two cars, a black BMW X3 and a white Mercedes, and a designer briefcase were reportedly taken.
"Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact us online, on social media or by calling 101 and quoting log reference 2400276638".
The culprits were pictured on their CCTV (Image: Whitson Prestige)
The family ask for anyone who might see the two stolen cars pictured above, to report where they saw them to Gwent Police immediately.
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