UK COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM CITY COUNCILS DEPARTMENTthisisExeter : Express & Echo News : COMPUTERS ARE STOLENCOMPUTERS ARE STOLEN

12:00 - 20 February 2004

Computer equipment valued at around £12,000 has been stolen from the headquarters of Exeter City Council's cleansing department. The break-in was discovered this morning at 6am when staff arrived for work.

Thieves forced a window at the back of the office building in Exton Road to gain entry.

They took the main server, 10 base units, a flat screen and a television set.

Mike Trim, head of the city's cleansing services, said: "It looks like a professional job. Whoever broke in did not make much mess, there are just a few bits of paper strewn about.

"What was stolen would be valued at around £12,000, but the cost is greater than that because of the disruption and the time staff will need to input everything again."

Mr Trim said some collections could be affected by the loss of information stored on the computers.

He said: "We have a back-up on the main frame in the Civic Centre, but obviously it will take a few days for us to get everything back again, and we would ask the public to be patient while this is done.

"Collections will operate as normal but it may be that, for example, a bulky waste collection will be missed because we don't know now what has been booked."