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Police at Loomis Cash
Management, in Swanley. Video: Rachel Hovenden

Construction sites across Kent are
being warned to keep machinery secure after a stolen digger was
used in a failed ramraid on a cash depot early today.

Would-be robbers used the JCB to smash
their way into Loomis Cash Management in Swanley at around
5.15am.

They crashed through a wall but fled
empty-handed – leaving the digger, which had been stolen from a
nearby building site just hours earlier, at the scene.

Det Insp Kevin Downard, of the Kent
and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "We have very strong
ties with the construction industry in Kent but there are a number
of safeguards that can be put in place – making sure the machinery
is locked and the keys removed, and immobilising the vehicle, for
example.

"Construction sites should make sure
they have locked, secure fencing in place. They can even block
machinery in by using other equipment or building materials."

Police believe five or six people, all
of whom had their faces covered, were involved in this morning's
raid.

Police at the scene of
the raid on Loomis Cash Management in Swanley

The gang tried to escape in a black
Mitsubishi Warrior – but the pick-up truck, which had an 09
registration plate, was later found stuck in a field and recovered
by police.

It is thought a significant amount of
cash would have been inside the depot, which is close to the M25,
at the time of the raid.

Barry Callaghan, managing director of
neighbouring PMJ Foods, said: "I got in at about five in the
morning. It was about quarter past five when the police
arrived.

"About eight police cars arrived and
it was quite dramatic. The JCB must have driven right through."

It is the second raid on the Loomis
depot in five years.

In April 2007, a balaclava-clad gang
reversed a stolen skip lorry into a cash transfer bay.

Anyone with information about the
latest raid is asked to phone police on 101 or Kent Crimestoppers,
anonymously, on 0800 555 111.