THE OWNER of a garage is frustrated to hear it had been burgled for a second time in three years.

Burglars broke into the Earls Colne Service Centre overnight, ransacking the office and stealing tools from the workshop.

Adrian Coppen, who owns the garage in Lower Holt Street, said this time £650 worth of tools were taken.

The burglars had forced open the lock on the timber sliding door to the garage.

The garage was also broken into in November 2013 and Mr Coppen said on that occasion £20,000 worth of tools were stolen.

He said: "We reckon they thought there could have been money in the office as we had just sold a vehicle.

"Neighbours alerted us to the fact it happened, I was on holiday at the time but a colleague had to go in and deal with the consequences.

"Every time we get broken into we up the security- we have alarms already and we have had CCTV in the past but the footage is never good enough."

He said the need to constantly improve security over the 13 years the garage has been there was a bigger issue than the tools being stolen.

Workers now leave as little as possible on the premises overnight due to the two burglaries.

He said: "It's the inconvenience of having to up the security again more than anything- we are upgrading the CCTV and getting better alarms."

Mr Coppen said stealing tools is an ever-growing issue as there is a lot of money in the industry.

He said: "The first time we were burgled was even worse as we found the tools were being sold on eBay.

"It's a growing problem, there's a good market for tools and equipment."

The burglary happened overnight on Friday, September 23.

Police are aware and ask anyone with information to call 101.