MASKED burglars scratched an expletive into a manager’s pick-up truck as part of a smash-and-grab raid.

Intruders targeted vehicles parked on an industrial estate yard in Rectory Road, Upton.

They stole thousands of pounds of items and left a trail of destruction in their wake.

Paul Waldron, aged 61, manager of Perren Metal Finishers, said: “They smashed up one of the pick-up trucks and took loads of bits off the vehicles. I’m just gutted about the whole thing.

“It was my own pick-up - it had just been refurbished. There was so much damage done to it, I have had to sell it for scrap."

Mr Waldron said the burglars scratched an offensive word into the paintwork of his vehicle.

He added: “We are appealing for information. One guy is quite distinctive, wearing army camouflage clothes. We believe there were four intruders. Someone out there knows something but no one wants to talk.”

Mr Waldron said he could not understand why the burglars targeted him.

He added: “I’m a placid sort of bloke, I don’t do anything to fall out with anybody. I don’t have any enemies. I don’t know why anyone would do this.

“The villains know that the police are so overstretched they can do whatever they want and will be very unlucky if there’s a police car passing at night.”

He added that he was not able to claim on his insurance because his truck was not parked under cover.

The manager said the burglars climbed over a 7ft gate to access the yard and then made off in a silver pick-up truck.

They stole bars and a sat-nav from his Nissan Navara, broke open lock-up containers on the estate and stole a diesel tank.

A worker at RP Tyre and Battery, on Rectory Road, said the raiders also trashed one of their recovery vehicles.

He said they ripped the wiring out of the truck, took the recovery lights and stole the engine control unit, which rendered the vehicle a write-off.

The intruders stayed in the yard for around two hours, from roughly 2.30am to 4.15am on August 24.

Inspector Deborah Sanders said: "West Mercia Police continue to work hard to ensure that opportunistic thefts and burglaries are reduced by targeting hotspots and implementing crime reduction tactics.

“We also work with crime prevention products like Smartwater.”

Anyone with information can ring police on 101 quoting incident number 120s of August 24.