Caravan site owners describe customer being runover by thieves

Site owner Neville Giddings said his daughter Stephanie Minty witnessed the incident which took place at around 2.40pm on Wednesday, March 20 at the Chalcot Park Farm Caravan Storage and Campsite at Dilton Marsh.

They describe seeing two men ram a silver BMW against a locked gate and drove straight over it and a customer in his 60s who had just bought a new caravan to store at the site near Westbury.

The man, from Warminster, was left in agony trapped under the gate and suffered a potentially life-changing injury to his left foot as the men sped off.

They believe two youths had sneaked into the storage site after the new customer had left the main gate open while trying to store his caravan.

The damaged gate at Chalcot Park Farm Caravan Storage and Campsite has since been repaired. Image: Trevor Porter 76900=2 (Image: Trevor Porter)

Mr Giddings said: "Stephanie was there when it happened. It just missed her. She was lucky.”

Mrs Minty said: “At first I did not realise what they were up to. They had got into the compound but could not get out.

“They were giving me answers that were half plausible but I smelt a rat and asked them for their name and pitch number and it did not tally.

“While I went inside to check, they had been driving frantically around the compound trying to get out.

“They were in there like cornered rats and were panicking because they could not get out because the gate was padlocked.

“They were shouting at the man to unlock the gate and let them out. Unfortunately, he was standing on the wrong side of the gate.

“They just drove at him and the gate and drove straight over both. They just wanted to get out and did not care who they took with them.”

Mrs Minty said she and the customer’s wife were both lucky to escape being injured themselves.

“The man’s wife had just lifted a metal bar on the other gate, otherwise it would have swung back and hit her.

“She had been walking with a stick and was very lucky to escape.”

“I felt sorry for the man because he was excited about having a new caravan and was using our site for the first time.”

Mrs Minty said the men had scoured the site and had stolen a generator they had found in a barn and put it into the boot of their car.

The victim was taken to hospital to be treated for potentially life-changing injuries to crushed bones in his mangled left foot.

Police have appealed for witnesses to the serious assault at the caravan storage site just off the B3098 at Dilton Marsh near Westbury.

Police said that a silver BMW, believed to be the same vehicle, was found abandoned on Black Dog Hill layby shortly after.

The Giddings family has operated the self-service yard with hard standing and storage for the past 32 years.

As well as a campsite, they have more than 150 customers who use their facility to store caravans, motor homes and boats.

Mrs Minty added: “We have had intruders in before but this is the first time that anything like this has happened.”

If you saw anything suspicious in the area, or can help with police enquiries, please contact them on 101 quoting reference number 54240032610.

Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.