Wiltshire nursery devastated after second minibus destroyed

The nursery's minibus was stolen and later found burned out near East Kennet

Nursery staff have been left "devastated" after having a second minibus stolen and destroyed in just over six months.

Staff at Sunflowers in Grafton, Wiltshire, discovered their 12-seat minibus had been taken on Tuesday morning and police later found it burned out near East Kennet.

Their 15-seat minibus was stolen and similarly destroyed in September.

"How can this happen again, and why?," said the nursery's Alison Halfpenny.

"We are a charity, we're a nursery school, we're serving the community and we're looking after families and their children.

"Unfortunately these people don't think about these things," the nursery's business administrator told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

Alison Halfpenny said she felt "complete devastation, disappointment and numbness"

Ms Halfpenny said a colleague had arrived for work on Tuesday morning to find the gates open and a minibus missing.

They reported it to Wiltshire Police, who later that day found it near East Kennet. It had been set on fire and completely burned out.

Ms Halfpenny explained the bus was used as "wraparound care" for local primary school children, as well to take children from local villages to Burbage Primary School and back home in the afternoon.

They are able to continue the service using another bus they are hiring, but she said: "We still need to find another bus."

Ms Halfpenny said the minibus was important to the nursery

"Overall the response has been absolutely fantastic," added Ms Halfpenny.

She said since the incident, the nursery has had lots of phone calls and messages offering help.

"It's a really supportive community so we couldn't have asked for more in that respect," she said.

Police are investigating but said no arrests had been made.