IN 1992, ram raiders caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to businesses in Swindon and surrounding villages.

The inventive crooks went to extraordinary lengths – even attaching huge iron poles to a stolen recovery truck in an effort to drag an ATM from the wall of a Gorse Hill branch of Lloyds.

The Adver picture archive records three ram raids in the summer, autumn and winter of 1992.

The town centre spree

In June 1992, a ram raid gang went on an extraordinary spree in Swindon town centre.

The gang stole a high-powered green Rover from the Brown Jack pub in Wroughton on June 8 before heading into town.

Swindon Advertiser:

The Evening Advertiser's report Picture: ADVER

At 1.20am they hurled breeze blocks through the window of the House of Angling shop in Commercial Road before loading £225-worth of fishing gear into the car.

An hour later, at around 2.30am, they reversed into the Southern Electric shop and stole radio cassette players worth £640. They sped off out of Canal Walk and through an underpass toward Farnsby Street – but came to an abrupt halt. The crooks discovered they were unable to negotiate a tight bend and were forced to unload their haul and abandon the getaway car.

Swindon Advertiser:

The Rover stolen from outside a Wroughton pub Picture: ADVER

The battering ram

In October 1992, ram raiders armed a stolen recovery vehicle with six foot metal spikes then smashed into the front wall of the Lloyd's on Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill.

Insp Richard Rowland told the Adver at the time that the gang had welded the iron spikes to the back of the truck, which was stolen from a Mannington firm.

Swindon Advertiser:

The damage done to the front of Lloyd's, Cricklade Road Picture: ADVER

“They had crashed through the front of the bank in an effort to get the cashpoint machine, which was fully loaded for the weekend,” he said.

The thieves did not manage to free the ATM and were forced to flee empty-handed.

Raid as victims slept

The following month, daring thieves smashed a massive hole in the wall of the Post Office and Stores in Oaksey, near Kemble, and made off with a safe containing £3,500.

When the thieves struck, the postmistress and her family were asleep in their house 15 yards from the shop. But neither they nor their neighbours heard anything.

Swindon Advertiser:

The hole in the wall at the post office and stores Picture: ADVER

Police believed the thieves struck at around 12.15am, when a “suspicious” car was seen in the village.

It is not clear whether the culprits were ever brought to justice.