Thieves have been caught on camera stealing a Land Rover worth £21,000 from a family-run car dealership – the third time is has been targeted in five years.

Staff at Horsepower Motor Centre in Sovereign Way, Tonbridge, arrived to work yesterday (Tuesday) morning to find the vehicle had gone.

The windows of a white BMW 1 series had been smashed and behind it was the space the stolen Land Rover had been in.

When owner Alex Kuligowski checked the CCTV, fast-forwarding to 9.30pm on Monday, he found footage of two people dressed all in black and wearing face coverings breaking the windows of the BMW.

One of the thieves then reached into the car to remove the handbrake while the other jumped in the Land Rover behind.

Alex suspected the signal from the electric keys was copied prior to the theft.

After a bit of moving back and forth both people got in the Land Rover, using it to nudge the BMW out of the way to get enough room to escape.

Alex said: “I’m gutted and helpless. At the end of the day the car wasn’t able to be driven out but where there’s a will there’s a way and the lengths these thieves went to meant it didn’t matter what we did.

“We now have a £21,000 car gone from our lot.

“It’s the third time it’s happened to us, the third Land Rover targeted since 2018.”

In January 2020, the Horsepower cameras caught a thief removing the bumper of a Vauxhall VXR.

Alex installed the cameras in 2018 after its first issue with a Land Rover being stolen occurred.

That one was recovered but when it happened a second time the company wasn’t so lucky.

This incident now stands as the third Land Rover targeted by thieves in five years.

Alex said: “It’s a pain in the backside, disruptive and endemic to this company.

“It’s not even pitch black dark by 9.30pm and the forecourt is on the main road so they were being so brazen.

“This will stand as a loss regardless of if the insurers get involved.

“With the 1 series, it is cheaper to fork out the funds ourselves to fix than to make a claim and ruin a no-claims bonus.”

The Land Rover has since been found with Met Police recovering it from Belvedere and is now being taken for forensics.

Alex said: “Police told me the thieves had changed the number plates.

“They clearly drove it a long way so who knows what happened? They could’ve thrashed the granny out of it then it cooked over so they dumped it.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called to a report a black Land Rover Sport had been stolen at around 9.30pm the previous evening.

“Damage was also reported to vehicles parked next to the stolen car and an investigation is under way, including forensic examination at the scene.

“The vehicle was later located in Belvedere and has been recovered by the Metropolitan Police.

“Anyone with information that may assist is urged to contact police on 01622 604100, quoting reference 25-0262.

“Drivers with dashcam who were in the area at the time of the theft are asked to check for relevant footage.”