Thief poses as lorry driver to steal laptops

A conman carried out an audacious robbery by posing as a delivery driver and fooling Currys staff into loading £244,000 of laptops on to his lorry.

They spent two hours filling it while the trickster brazenly drank tea and even took a nap in his cab. He signed out at the security booth as "M. Bates" and waved goodbye as he drove off.

Four hours later, the real delivery driver turned up and asked where his load had gone.

Normally, all loads collected from the distribution warehouse need full paperwork. But the bogus driver claimed he was "live loading" - collecting unscheduled goods. He had an Irish accent and his jacket had the name McBurney, an official Currys contractor delivering throughout Ireland.

A worker at the warehouse in Newark, Notts, said yesterday: "When the real lorry driver turned up for his load it had gone. This is a big embarrassment for the company."

Police said: "We have viewed CCTV footage but it is not very clear. The vehicle had false number plates." Currys said: "We are co-operating with police."