Brazen thieves use forklift truck to steal £50,000 worth of hot tubs from East Lothian company

The owners of an East Lothian business have been left “devastated” after a gang stole £50,000 worth of hot tubs in a late-night robbery – and the brazen thieves carried out the crime using a forklift truck stolen from a neighbouring yard.

The robbery occurred on Friday night at Advanced Hot Tubs & Swim Spas Ltd at Macmerry Industrial Estate, Macmerry, near Tranent.

Owner Trisha Higginson told the Evening News: “Last night at around 9pm we had ten of our bestselling Harris hot tubs stolen from our back yard.

“We are going through all the footage to get a good description of the gang. Hopefully someone will have seen something that they remember and can let the police know.

“The thieves were seen by the workers of a neighbouring firm – and they even chatted with one of the chaps while they were unloading the hot tubs into lorries.

“The thieves said they were moving the hot tubs to another storage area as there wasn't enough room in our yard.

“What they did was break in to the Reywood yard nextdoor to us, stole their forklift, and then took the hot tubs from our yard.

“The gang used one flatbed and a hi-ab lorry with a lifting crane to take everything. It seems like they knew exactly what they were after.”

The hot tubs were ready to be shipped to customers when they were stolen. (Photograph: Kevin Higginson)

The six-person hot tubs retail for just under £5,000 each, and each of the luxury spas comes equipped with dozens of jets, LED lighting and even a bluetooth music system.

Ms Higginson says the robbery is a major blow to her business, as her customers have been waiting up to six months for the hot tubs.

“This is absolutely gutting – not just for the business but also for the customers,” she said.

“This has been the busiest year ever for hot tubs, because as soon as we went into lockdown, everybody got the money back from their holidays and were buying hot tubs.

“Some of these people have been waiting six months for their spas to arrive – and now they won't be getting them.”

Police Scotland have been contacted.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.