THE owner of the Bertie Maffoons bike shop in Marlborough had a nasty surprise today, the front of his shop having been rammed and bikes stolen from inside.

Sean Wratten, 44, owner of the shop in Glympton Court, Blenheim Road, was about to open up his shop at 6.30am today morning when he arrived to see the front of the shop broken into.

Mr Wratten said: “We were broken into at about 2.30am in the early hours of the morning and we have had six expensive road bikes stolen from the front of the place.

"I came down to open to find the front pushed in and the doors off the hinges.

"The six bikes add up to a total of about £10,000, so they weren’t cheap bikes at all. What is worse is that one of them was in for repair and I had sold another to my friend on Saturday.”

The business park is sometimes used as a rest stop for long haul lorry drivers, one of which contacted the police in the morning.

“This place does get used as a truck stop, unfortunately the truck driver sleeping nearby didn’t notice the raid when it happened but called the police as soon as he woke up and realised," said Mr Wratten.

"There was a shop in Andover which was also hit in the same night and one in Taunton a couple of weeks ago. It is obviously a group of people targeting certain places, this sort of thing doesn’t happen twice in one night and not be related."

To make the repairs to the shop Mr Wratten will now have to contact the landlord and the insurance company, with hopes the cost of the lost items and damage can be covered.

“It is a pain that we will now need to look to repair the shop and cover the insurance," he said.

"I know Marlborough and the surrounding area suffer from thefts, usually from people’s garages, but shops now as well. I will have to put up a temporary security measure and stay in the shop until it is fixed properly."

With a number of similar thefts taking place over the last few weeks, Mr Wratten is looking to advise people on buying bikes online as suspiciously low prices.

“You see people selling bikes on EBay for low prices, what could be a £2,000 bike being sold for £800, described as unwanted gifts. You really have to think sometimes at how these brand new bikes are being sold for so cheap. I think a lot of people are focused on getting the bargain and less on how these things are so cheap,” he said.

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "Officers attended Bertie Maffoons Bicycle Company today following reports of a burglary. A number of bikes were stolen. Anyone with any information is asked to call Wiltshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."