Three luxury caravans were stolen from a "secure compound" holiday park near Wisbech.

The theft is thought to have occurred between 5pm on Tuesday (April 19) and 10am on Wednesday (April 20).

Little Ranch Leisure at Begdale describe their caravan storage facility as a "gated storage compound" where they can "ensure your caravan is kept safe and secure".

Owner Mike Day said that "no place is 100 per cent secure" and "they [the thieves] knew what they were doing".

%image(14387137, type="article-full", alt="The thieves are said to have "smashed" their way through an orchard to gain entry to the compound.")

Mr Day detailed how the thieves ignored the two large gates used to keep the caravans safe, and broke through a fence instead.

Thieves "smashed" their way through the park's orchard, knocking down large fruit trees to clear a path.

Mr Day believes a large vehicle was likely used to do this.

Despite living on site, he explained how his home was too far away to see or hear anything from the incident.

An owner of one of the stolen caravans, Leslie Garner, said that her father took a phone call from the site, which explained that the caravan had been taken.

She outlined her shock at the loss of the caravan, and her disappointment in what was advertised to her as a "secure compound".

She said: "They have confirmed that they do not have insurance that covers the caravans being stolen from their 'secure’ unit, the local authority approval was some 17-years-old and they now have no understanding of it.

"They are suggesting that they are not negligent, while advising that they have had a previous theft, but done nothing to upgrade their security.

"They gave us invalid insurance details and told us to phone the broker ourselves - I did, no policy number or insurance is at that postcode.

"A further number and confirmation of some insurance was then later confirmed, but only due to our persistence.

"We received a call at around 7.30pm last night, and got an apology at 11.10am this morning after being there (at Little Ranch Leisure) for nearly three hours."

In response to these claims, Mr Day said: "They (the owners of the stolen caravans) have been in contact with my insurance chap.

"It's their responsibility to contact their own insurance companies.

"They contact their insurance and he (my insurance man) deals with them.

"If you park in a council car park, you don't blame the council if your car gets nicked!

"They're told when they first arrive that it is their responsibility to insure their own caravan."

Another individual who had his caravan stolen in the incident, Jeremy Brown, confirmed that he had received "a couple of calls" from the caravan site.

Mr Brown's caravan was described as being used for leisure purposes across the UK, only being kept at Little Ranch Leisure for safekeeping between holidays.

On the theft, a spokesperson from Cambridgeshire Police said: "This has been reported to us as taking place between 5pm on 19 April and 10am on 20 April.

"Anyone with information is asked to contact police quoting reference 35/27457/22."