THIEVES were left empty-handed after stealing a safe from a charity shop.

They broke in to the St Barnabas House Hospice shop in Steyning and managed to drag the safe out of the back door.

However they were forced to abandon the unopened safe in a nearby car park because it was too heavy.

Staff were shocked to discover the break-in at the shop in the high street on Monday morning.

However the safe was discovered nearby and they were able to get all of its contents back.

Assistant shop manager Linda Boereboom said: “It is a really big, chunky, heavy safe and you can see where they had been dragging it along. I’m just surprised nobody heard anything when they were trying to move it.

“It took two people to manoeuvre it back into the shop and it was a huge effort.

“I’m glad we were able to get everything back and get the shop opened again quickly.”

Sally Brighton, hospice director of retail, said: “We are shocked and saddened that anybody would try to steal from a charity.

“As well as the cost of repairing the damage, we also lost a morning’s trade which will affect our profits, all of which go directly towards providing hospice care for local people.

“This incident has left our staff and volunteers very shaken but they rallied together and got the shop open again in the afternoon.

“I would like to thank them and our customers for their support and we look forward to putting this unhappy incident behind us.”

The incident at the shop in the High Street has been reported to Sussex Police and is believed to have happened sometime between 6.30pm on Sunday and 9am on Monday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.

They are asked to quote incident number 213 of March 16.