Police are appealing for witnesses following the theft of a large quantity of taps from a Newton Abbot scrap company.

The taps – valued at £70,000 – were taken from a scrap metal yard on Kingsteignton Road between 5pm and 9pm.

Police believe that a large red and white truck was used in the raid with possibly a dark car and small white panel van and occupants also involved.

The truck was loaded from within Gormans Metal Ltd with the truck parked in the business park next to it and was fairly quiet due to Sunday trading and most premises being shut at that time.

A police spokesman said: “The haul is estimated to have weighed around 25 tonnes - this large amount of metal will need to be offloaded and sold to someone.

“We would like to hear from anyone who may have been offered silver-plated brass taps.

“In addition we would like to hear from anyone who may have witnessed anything around the time of the incident.”

Anyone with information is asked to please call police on 101 quoting ref JN/13/372.