A BUSY service station closed for several hours after a thief broke in through the roof and stole a large amount of money from an ATM machine.

The Moto services at Scotch Corner, just off the A1 and A66 junction in North Yorkshire, was raided between 10pm on Friday and 6am on Saturday.

The thief lifted roof tiles on the main building at the service station, near Middleton Tyas, and lowered himself to the ground.

He used a grinder to cut the free-standing cash machine open and took all the money, before fleeing back through the roof, leaving the grinder behind.

A Moto spokesman said the company was unable to say how much money had been taken because the machine was owned by an independent company.

He said: “Staff discovered what had happened when they came to open up at 6am the next day. I don’t know if CCTV has captured what happened, but of course we will share any we do have with the police. It may be that the cash machine has its own camera inside.

“The service station was closed until about noon on New Year’s Day to allow the crime investigation officers to do their job, because we couldn’t have customers walking past while they were working.”

The petrol station remained open.

A police spokeswoman said: “We are asking anyone who was in the area of the services between 10pm on December 31 and 6am on January 1, and may have seen anyone acting suspiciously, including any vehicles, to contact us.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 0845-60-60-24-7.