CCTV captures Walsall school minibus stolen leaving children without transport

CCTV footage captures the moment a school minibus was stolen

A community minibus that has offered transport services to a number of primary schools and other groups around the Walsall area has been stolen.

Thieves took an angle-grinder to the heavy metal gates and sheared through the gate lock as well as a heavy-duty padlock in order to steal the bus, which was fitted with an immobiliser.

The Banners Gate Community Minibus was later found stripped of most of its mechanical parts and abandoned.

The theft has left users without regular transport.

Delves Junior School in Walsall has been an organisation using the Community Minibus since September of this year.

On the eve of Children in Need Day, the vehicle was taken away from them, leaving the school without a means of transportation.

So far, it has served three primary schools, two Scout groups, two Townswomen's Guilds, a  teenage girls' group promoting self-esteem, three religious orders, and groups of undergraduate and postgraduate students on field trips during its seven-year operation.

The bus was also used to support local events in the area organised by the Community Association such as annual fundraising quizzes and community-wide commemorative events.

The community are now appealing for anybody who may know something to come forward.