G4S driver charged after 'stealing £1 million from van he then abandoned in street'
A G4S driver has been charged after he allegedly ran off with £1million he’d taken from deposit boxes and leaving his security van in the street.
The man is said to have taken 40 deposit boxes from the vehicle and left it in a residential street in Clapham, south-west London on Tuesday.
Bemused locals notice the armoured blue van, emblazoned with G4S logos, soon after it was abandoned on double yellow lines around 9am, wondering why it was left there when there when no shops or cash machines were nearby.
It wasn't until eight hours later the security at around 7pm the police reported, even though residents on the street had called the security company at 5.30pm, The Sun reported.
Joel March, 38, of Rectory Grove, in Clapham, has been charged with one count of theft by employee and will appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad headed the investigation and soon managed to recover a quantity of cash from.
G4S - a major government security contractor - said there had been no "material" financial impact from the incident.
A local resident told The Sun: “I saw some strips of paper with ‘mum,’ ‘dad’ and phone numbers. That worried me in case someone had come to harm.”
A G4S spokeswoman said: "These incidents are extremely rare in our UK Cash business and we are working closely with the Metropolitan Police to resolve the matter. The financial impact is not material."
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "Police were called at approximately 7pm on Tuesday, 23 April to reports of a theft of cash deposit boxes from a cash-in-transit vehicle.
"Officers attended a location in the Larkhall Rise area of Clapham where the vehicle was parked. There was no sign of forced entry to the vehicle.
"An investigation was launched by the Met's Flying Squad and a 36-year-old man was arrested by officers on suspicion of theft at approximately 3pm on Wednesday, April 24 in SW2.
Police said the suspect was being kept in a South London police station and inquiries were continuing.
