Vandals hit Hudson's of Dudley twice in three days

Vandals have targeted a Black Country steel haulage firm twice in three days, damaging offices and lorries in a wrecking spree.

Yobs attacked family firm Hudson's of Dudley Ltd, in Canal Street, Brierley Hill.

In the latest raid, they poured a gallon of engine oil over the firm's cherry picker lorry and removed a diesel tank from another lorry by hacking through connecting pipes. Last weekend they had smashed into the company's offices, devastated owner Maurice Hudson said.

He will have to foot the £3,000 bill to clear up the mess the vandals left behind but is offering a £500 reward to help catch the culprits. They struck for a second time in the early hours of Wednesday after breaking into the offices over the weekend.

Mr Hudson, aged 78, branded the vandals "vultures".

"I feel devastated, it is hard to even say what the feeling is like when you come to open up your business in a morning to find something like this has happened," he said. "The depressing thing is we are trying to battle through the downturn at the moment and, instead of getting on with our work, I'm having to sort all this out.

"We have tried having CCTV cameras before and they just get smashed. These people do not care. They even dismantled a metal sheet panel from the side of the workshop to get in so they knew what they were doing."

Announcing the reward, he said: "It is the only way I can think of to try to get someone to come forward with information to finally catch these people as it can't go on like this," he said.

Mr Hudson says he will look at introducing extra security on his nine acre site. The firm has been subjected to numerous attacks over the past two years.

In July last year, a £300 steam cleaner used to clean lorries was stolen along with a £500 MIG welder and various tools.

The thieves had wrenched the yard gate off its hinges to break into the business, which employs 16 people.