A gang of hopeless ram-raiders left a petrol station in tatters in a botched bid to break into a cash machine with a digger.

They smashed half a brick wall above the machine, made a hole in the forecourt ceiling and left bricks strewn across the floor and half the shop's facia hanging off.

They failed to hit the one thing they actually wanted to break - the cash machine.

Staff arrived at the Texaco garage on Balcombe Road, Crawley, to find debris and the digger abandoned in the middle of the forecourt.

A dumper truck also used in the raid was abandoned too after the raiders gave up.

The digger and truck were stolen from a site half a mile away, driven down the road and into the garage shortly before 1.30am yesterday.

It has prompted an urgent review of security and safety at the garage.

Police are considering the possibility the raid was linked to the same gang who carried out a £53m heist at the Kent Securitas depot on February 22 and another raid in which a tractor was used to ram a Securitas van earlier in the week.

Police particularly want to track down two men who they say were involved in the latest raid.

Somerfield, the supermarket which owns the forecourt shop, said it was unable to put an exact value on the amount of damage caused but builders estimated it would cost £10,000 to repair.

Lloyds TSB would not disclose how much money was in the machine at the time but no cash was taken.

The forecourt shop was closed all day as forensic police officers, representatives from the digger company B&T, and managers from Somerfield assessed the damage.

Workers battled to patch the damage up so the garage could open again quickly.

Somerfield said: "They have caused extensive damage, which has forced us to shut the store whilst we carry out essential repairs. We are assisting police with their inquiry and have handed over CCTV footage.

"We are confident we have adequate facilities at the site to safeguard our staff and customers. However, we will conduct a further review of security in light of this unsuccessful robbery."

DC Caroline Callaway of Crawley CID confirmed no arrests had been made, but said: "We have a number of lines of inquiries to make."

The garage was closed at the time of the raid and no staff or customers were on site.

Neighbours from a block of flats overlooking the garage said they slept through the attempted raid.

A manager of the Taylor Woodrow site where the vehicles were stolen from said the robbers had smashed a gate after hotwiring the vehicles to start them, damaging them in the process.

Police Community Support Officers were guarding the building site, also on Balcombe Road, yesterday afternoon.

Crawley CID wants anyone with information to call 0845 6070999, quoting serial 55 of March 10.