POLICE are investigating after a forklift truck ploughed into a service station during a ram-raid on the A31 north of Alton in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The incident is thought to have happened between 4.15am and 4.30am, when the truck was used to demolish a wall of the Hen and Chicken service station on the Farnham Road at Upper Froyle before being used to remove the cash machine. The forklift was left at the scene and the raiders made off in another vehicle.

It is the fourth ram-raid in this area of East Hampshire in the last 10 days, following hard on the heels of a failed attack in Alton last Sunday morning when criminals smashed into the Aldi store on Mill Lane using a Land Rover Defender and attempted to remove the cash machine.

The previous morning (August 19) there were two similar botched ram-raids, one at the Bucks Horn Oak service station on the A325, north of Alton, and another at the Liphook Co-op. In all three cases, the attackers were forced to flee empty handed.

While police have not officially linked the incidents, they have appealed for witnesses. Anyone with information should call 101, quoting reference 44170333921, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.