Nationwide doors open up on Pancake Day.
A town’s bank that was ram raided last year is set to re-open its doors this month.
Shocked Olney residents woke last October to find their popular High Street Nationwide bank had been ram raided overnight causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the building.
Thieves used agricultural machinery to rip through the bank’s façade and rip out the cash machine. Police were called but by the time they arrived the machine and criminals were gone, leaving a gaping hole in the Grade 2 listed building.
The bank has confirmed that its branch will re-open on 17th February, Shrove Tuesday – also the day of the town’s historic Pancake Race.
“We can’t wait for it to open up again,” said one resident. “It has been so inconvenient without it and the building looked awful after the damage was caused.”
Last October was not the first time the branch had been targeted – in 2010 the front of the building was ripped out when thieves used a digger to steal the ATM machine.
And earlier last year the nearby Sainsbury’s store in Olney suffered a similar fate when its cash machine was torn from a wall.
