A CASH machine was stolen from a garage at Huntley in the early hours of Friday morning – an it is believed the same thieves may have tried to steal the machine outside the Co-op in Lydney.

Gloucestershire Police were called to the Ross Road garage in Huntley in the early hours of Friday (November 10fter reports the cashpoint had been blown from the wall using a gas canister.

Cash was found on the floor, including plastic notes which had been melted by the the heat of the blast.

Police say it may be linked with an earlier attempt to steal the cash machine at the Co-op in Lydney although the thieves escaped empty handed.

In both cases a white car had been seen in the vicinity and police are urging anyone who may have seen anything suspicious or has been offered heat-damaged notes contact them.

Police in Monmouth are also hunting a gang who are believed to have used a gas canister to steal a cashpoint from the Co-op in Rockfield Road at around 4am last Wednesday (November 8).

Anyone with information about the Forest incidents is asked to contact Gloucestershire Police on 101 quoting incidents 14 (Lydney) or 21 (Huntley) of November 10.