AN ELECTRICIAN whose van was stolen from his driveway claims police told him the case would be closed before CCTV footage of the theft had even been viewed.

Chris Webb was watching television at home, completely unaware two men were stealing his van just metres from his front door.

He woke the next morning to find his driveway empty and his dark blue £10,000 Ford Transit Sport, with £5,000 of Bosch power tools inside, missing.

The 34-year-old, who lives in Denton Road, Newhaven, with his wife Katie and their two young children, immediately reviewed CCTV footage form the front of his home.

“It was really scary,” he said.

“It made me feel completely unsafe for me and my family.

“I had just come home from a lovely holiday and was just relaxing watching the television.

“To think they were just outside our house the night before while we were inside was horrible.”

He watched the CCTV footage in horror as he saw a car crawl up and down the street several times before pulling up just behind bushes next to his house.

Two men jumped out and stole his van around at 10.30pm last Friday.

“The worst thing was that you could see on the footage that every time I moved around inside they darted away from the house, so they had been watching our movements,” he added.

The footage shows the thieves loitering around Mr Webb’s driveway, standing in the shadows and then repeatedly approaching the van. They then stood on the other side of the road before one rushes over, gets into the van and speeds off.

Mr Webb and his father Steve Webb, 60, of Coldean, suspect the thieves used some kind of decoding device to gather the vehicle’s details, disarm the alarm and start the engine using a cloned key.

Mr Webb wants the police to do more.

He said he sent them the CCTV footage but officers said they cannot view the material and told The Argus they are waiting to be sent it again.

He said: “I phoned the police immediately and told them about the CCTV.

“I had to wait two days for an officer to ring back. No one came around to visit me and when an officer called me back he asked me to send over the footage but the case would be closed.

“He said they would try and identify the men but he may as well have told me to give up or try and investigate it myself.

“It was very frustrating, I’ve had to start making my own enquiries.”

Mr Webb relies on the van, which he only bought a year ago, for work and is now having to use the family car to get to his appointments while he waits for his insurers to settle the claim.

He has already been set back more than £1,500 as he had to buy replacement tools. He discovered his stolen tools were not covered by his car or home insurance.

He added: “I took security measures and it still wasn’t enough to catch those who stole from me.”

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The video was supplied to police, but was not viewable.

“Officers are currently awaiting a further video or screen shots of the suspects’ faces to see if they can be identified.”

He did not comment on whether officers had told Mr Webb the case would be closed before receiving the CCTV.

Mr Webb said he has re-sent the footage as requested.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting 274 of 03/06. Watch the footage at theargus.co.uk