RAM-raiders attacked the Aldi store on Mill Lane in Alton on Sunday morning but ended up abandoning one vehicle before taking off in another.

According to the police, the incident took place between 1am and 1.15am when a group of men broke into the store before using a Land Rover Defender to try to remove a cash machine from inside the building. But their attempts failed.

While the Land Rover was left behind in the car park, the men made off in a silver estate car, seemingly empty handed.

Police are linking the failed burglary with the theft of a Land Rover Defender and a car park on Aylward Drive, Lower Farringdon, sometime between 4.30pm on Friday (August 18) and the time of the raid on Sunday.

They are also looking at possible links with two similar botched ram-raid incidents, one at Bucks Horn Oak, the other in Liphook, in the early hours of Saturday morning (August 19).

Thieves attempted a ram-raid at Bucks Horn Oak service station sometime between 3.30am and 4am, using a silver 4x4 vehicle to smash into the wall of a building, blasting a hole into the store room.

After causing considerable damage, they drove off empty-handed down the A325 toward Bordon.

At 4am, nearby residents were woken by the crashing noise of a silver 4x4 vehicle carrying out a ram-raid at the Liphook Co-op. The car was reversing into the wall leading straight to the post office section of the shop, causing severe damage.

The occupants got into the building but fled empty handed after the wall, which had collapsed onto the safe during the raid, had completely buried it.

The getaway was caught on the shop’s CCTV camera, as the burglars drove down the Headley Road toward Bordon.

Police found an abandoned Mitsubishi 4x4 vehicle on Monday in woods at Longmoor Army Camp, which is thought to have been the vehicle used in both crimes, although the verdict is still out on any possible link with Alton.

While Aldi was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press, police investigating the Alton incident are appealing for witnesses.

Anyone with information should call 101, quoting 44170321814, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.