Scout leader's shock after Land Rover used in Telford college ram raid
A scout leader today spoke of his shock after a Land Rover used to take youngsters on trips was stolen before being used in a dramatic ram raid at a Telford college.
The vehicle, affectionately named The Rig by scout members, belonged to district leader Philip Rhodes Jones, from Shrewsbury, who had lovingly restored it over a decade.
He regularly drove scout groups out for woodland adventures, towing a field kitchen full of camping equipment.
But speaking today, Mr Rhodes Jones told of the double blow of seeing his beloved vehicle reduced to a wreck and his former college damaged.
The 47-year-old studied electrics at Telford College of Arts and Technology, where shocked onlookers found the Land Rover crashed through the entrance on Wednesday.
A gang had ploughed it into a corridor where they tried to use chains to rip a cash machine from the wall but left on foot after failing to gain access.
"There's quite a few scouts from the Meole Brace group I used to lead who are very upset about it," said Mr Rhodes Jones, of Oswell Road Shrewsbury.
"They don't class it as mine, they class it as theirs. We've built a field kitchen that it tows and they love it. The used to call it the rig or the truck."
He added: "I am very, very fond of it. I built it up over the last 10 years from a wreck and now its a wreck again."
Mr Rhodes Jones is the warden of Bickley Coppice, 47 acres of scouting woodland just outside of Shrewsbury.
"I was a scout leader at Meole Brace for eight years and the Land Rover has also worked with the 1119 squadron air cadets at Shrewsbury
"I am thoroughly gutted. It's a double blow that they went into TCAT because that's where I trained."
Chris Ammonds, of West Mercia Police, today warned Land Rover owners to be careful after a spate of thefts in recent weeks. Anyone with information on the theft should call police on 101, reference number 47S131113.
