THIEVES targeted a warehouse run by one of the city's best-known charities, damaging three vans and forcing half its fleet off the road.
Police are hunting thieves who scaled a 7ft fence, smashed the windows of three of Dove House Hospice's six vans and took two front wheels from one of them.
The theft and criminal damage will cost Dove House more than £1,000, enough to pay for the meals for 100 desperately-sick patients for just one day.
But the price paid by the charity, which cares for people nearing the end of their lives, will be far greater as it cannot deliver stock to shops or goods to customers in its quest to generate much-needed funds.
Regional manager Janine Drury said: "This is just a smack in the face for us.
"How could someone do that?"
Two wheels were stolen and the driver window was smashed on the hospice's Ford Transit van.
Windows were also smashed on a LDV Luton van and Citroen Dispatch van at the hospice's warehouse on the Sutton Fields Industrial Estate.
Staff and volunteers believe the thieves were looking for a jack to get at the van tyres.
After stealing the tyres from the Ford Transit, one side of the van was left on a jack while the other was supported with bits of rubbish.
"The cost of replacing the wheels and windows will go over £1,000," said retail division manager Marisa Haines.
"But it isn't just the cost of the repairs – it is the knock-on effect it is going to have on the service and the relationship we have with our supporters.
"We have had to rearrange deliveries for shops, so we are letting people down.
"We are a charity, so people donate time, items and money to us to help terminally-ill people. Now we are having to use some of that to repair the vans when the money should be going to patient care."
Warehouse manager Jason Templeman was the first to arrive on the site yesterday morning at about 7.45am.
He said: "I unlocked the gates as normal, then walked round to see the van with the wheels missing and the rubbish holding it up.
"When I saw some of the other windows smashed, I thought they had done all the vans.
"I knew something was wrong straight away.
"I won't repeat what I said to myself, but I was really shocked."
Marisa says the whole warehouse team have been shocked by the break-in.
She said: "There has been a really funny atmosphere.
"Everyone is just in disbelief."
The vans are used to take stock from the warehouse to the 33 Dove House shops in Hull and the East Riding.
They also collect items donated from supporters' homes and deliver furniture and large goods which have been bought by customers supporting the shops.
It is hoped two of the vans will be repaired and brought back into service today while the third is expected to be repaired by Saturday.
CCTV footage is now being examined by Humberside Police as officers step up their hunt for the culprits.
Anyone with information should call 101, quoting reference number 1967422."
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