Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Police hunt thief who broke into emergency van and left trail of blood

Fraserburgh Coastguard officers Darren Scott and Martin Stephen.
Fraserburgh Coastguard officers Darren Scott and Martin Stephen.

A coastguard crew has been left unable to attend emergencies after a would-be thief left a trail of blood in its van.

Emergency chiefs said lives were in more jeopardy on the water as a direct result of the “act of lunacy”.

Someone broke into the HM Coastguard Fraserburgh offices at Westshore Industrial Estate some time after Thursday evening, when volunteers locked-up.

Nothing was stolen but lockers were ransacked and the rear window of the team’s Nissan truck was forced open.

All of the equipment and the vehicle itself will now need to be deep-cleaned, however, because the culprit injured their own arm in the attempt and dripped blood in the vehicle and on vital tools.

Police have carried out forensic tests and taken away DNA samples as they hunt down the culprit.

But the volunteer crew is now relying on the availability of its sister stations in Banff and Peterhead to attend any major incidents in the region while it waits for the van to be deep cleaned.

Last night, deputy station officer Darren Scott said: “Vandalising and stealing from a coastguard rescue vehicle, or any emergency service vehicle, is not only irresponsible but also puts lives at risk, especially on a weekend when we are often at our most busiest.

“It was noticed yesterday (Saturday), by one of the other officers.

“It would appear that whoever has done it this time has injured themselves in the process and left a trail of blood through the station. We have reported the incident to the police, who have taken samples, and they seem fairly confident they will be able to find whoever is responsible.

“Understandably, we’re just gutted again that this has happened again.

“We are ‘online’, but this malicious act has caused us to take one of our vehicles out of service to be repaired and decontaminated, which not only has a financial implication but has inevitably caused disruption and inconvenience.”

A spokesman added: “It is completely mind-numbing trying to think of reasons someone would possibly target an emergency service.

“This is just a complete act of lunacy and hopefully this time this individual is caught and dealt with appropriately.”

Anyone with information on the break-in or know who the culprit may be is asked to contact police on 101.

The station previously suffered a break-in last November.

The thief on that occasion broke a lock to gain access to the group’s equipment and made away with a laptop that the team relied on for real-time updates of emergencies and weather patterns.

It was made worse by the fact that the volunteers at the station had funded the machine themselves.

A massive crowdfunding appeal followed the incident and kind-hearted locals replaced the computer.