THE boss of a family food business has been left devastated after sneaky thieves made off with a delivery van.

Mark Graham ,of Vic Graham Ltd, a family-run firm providing wholesale potatoes and freshly cut chips in Manchester, said he was left "gutted" after he realised his brother’s van had been stolen from their factory in South Royd Street, Tottington.

Two men pulled up in a van with a trailer at 3.30pm on September 3 when one of the occupants walked into the factory garage.

He found a key box and snatched three sets of keys, including the set for the delivery van, which he then drove off in.

Mr Graham said: “I was working upstairs in the office at the time, but with the nature of the business there’s always workers coming in and out quite regularly.

“I didn’t think anything of it when I saw it going. It wasn’t until three hours later that we were locking up and putting the vehicles inside that we realised.

“It’s gutting to think someone had the barefaced cheek to just walk in have a good look around for keys, find them, take them and drive away.

“I have had to take two days off work to deal with all of this and change the locks on the two other vans. It’s a massive inconvenience with the insurance too.

“We didn’t have a tracker on the van which is why we haven’t managed to locate it yet but it’s something we will be getting on the other vehicles.”

Mr Graham posted pictures of the van on Facebook immediately after they realised it had been taken and one Bolton resident, Victoria Collins. spotted both vans heading towards Bolton.

She commented: “This van and another behind it sped past me and other cars on Turton Road at about 3.30pm yesterday. Really dangerous driving.

“The second van couldn't get past me because I was driving past parked cars.”

If anyone has any information about the whereabouts of both offenders and the van, they should call police on 101, quoting crime reference number 155490T15.