HAMPSHIRE Police is asking the public to be on the lookout for stolen plant machinery.

If efforts to stamp out the growing number of thefts from sites across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are to be successful, police say people must be watchful for pieces of equipment - such as diggers, generators and excavators - being transported at unusual times of the night.

Since April 1 an estimated £1 million worth of plant machinery has been stolen from sites across the two counties.

Almost all of the thefts have taken place overnight from construction sites, with fork-lifts and dumper trucks being among the items commonly taken.

Stealing machinery of this size would require large lorries and an organised group of criminals.

In recent weeks alone, around £45,000 worth of machinery has been stolen from the Alton area.

An excavator and a dumper truck, totalling around £23,000 in value, went missing from a building site in Mill Lane over the weekend of July 17 and 18.

The same weekend, barely half a mile away, a Kubata 101 digger, worth £20,000 was stolen from a site in Anstey Road.

The following Thursday, again on a Mill Lane building site, a white and blue Ford Transit van with a value of £8,500 disappeared.

That same day, in Four Marks, thieves made of with a Volvo digger.

These incidents come after more than £70,000 worth of plant machinery was stolen from the new £13 million Onyx-developed material recycling plant (MRF) in Froyle in March.

Thieves broke through security gates before stealing two diggers worth £28,000, a £23,000 roller and various other industrial power tools totalling £20,000.

In an attempt to curb the rise in these thefts, police are urging building site managers to ensure premises and machinery are secure overnight, and to consider installing CCTV.

Items of equipment should be marked with Identi-dot or engraved with the owner's postcode. They can also be registered with the National Plant and Equipment Register.

Any serial numbers should also be recorded.

"We will be issuing this advice to sites that could be targeted to ensure companies are protecting themselves in the best possible way," said Jim Ingram, the crime reduction officer. "But we are also asking the public to keep an eye open for movement at unusual times of the night."

Police from the roads policing unit will also be stop-checking any movement they see on the roads.

Anyone who spots plant machinery being moved or has any information about these thefts should contact police on 0845 045 45 45.