The new access road opened by Clipsham Quarry Company so lorries do not need to go through the village of Clipsham (see last month’s NSS) has been used by thieves to steal a Mapro telehandler from the quarry.

And as they drove the machine out of the quarry on the road on a Sunday afternoon they knocked over a 70-year-old grandmother who was out on a walk with some friends. She was taken to hospital with injuries so severe she was detained.

Sue Thomas, Managing Director of Clipsham Quarry Company, says it was a dingy Sunday afternoon and as the cab of the telehandler is off to one side the thief probably did not see the woman. But, she says, it is a small village and she knew the woman. “It leaves you feeling so awful,” she told NSS.

The telehandler belonged to Martin Nottingham, who crops stone into walling in the quarry. It was not new and has been valued at about £7,000.