A HEREFORD man came home from work to discover all four wheels had been stolen off his Land Rover which he uses to help emergency services.

Roy Roberts was shocked to discover the tyres, which are worth £175 each, had been removed between 9pm on July 27 and early Tuesday morning.

The vehicle had been parked on his drive in Bulmer Avenue for three weeks, after he started driving a different car.

He uses it for his work as chairman of Herefordshire 4x4 Response Group, which is a group of voluntary 4x4 vehicle owners who offer their time to statutory and voluntary agencies to assist in emergency situations, where the use of four-wheel drive vehicles are required.

Mr Roberts said: "My Land Rover- you either love it or hate it. I love it to bits.

"I say it has cost me blood, sweat and teeth- I took the engine out because it was a diesel and replaced it with a V8 petrol engine in 2008.

"I was underneath putting in the propshaft and it fell down and knocked my two front teeth out."

The thieves had used three breeze blocks to remove the tyres, which are Insa Turbo Special Tracks.

Mr Roberts, who works as an injection moulding technician and supervisor in Rotherwas, said in 2012 during the bad snow the response team did 90 call-outs in four days, helping doctors, nurses and patients.

There was also an attempted theft of a Land Rover winch in Bromyard on July 28.

West Mercia Police has issued a warning that there has been a recent increase in the thefts of Land Rover Defenders, as well as thefts of modified halogen headlamps from the Land Rover Discovery Mk2 in the area.

They said: “The theft of Defenders is due to their popularity and the ease of breaking down of the vehicles, as well as the possibility of being shipped abroad or sold as spare parts.”

If you have any information regarding the wheels theft call police on non-emergency number 101 quoting incident number 106-s-280715 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.