Break in at Leamington Spa exhibition 6/7 March 2020

[Retiarius]

This has just appeared on Rm-Web issued by the Leamington and Warwick Model Railway Society.

"Break-in at the Model Railway Exhibition at Leamington Spa. Friday 6th / Saturday 7th March 2020.
The opening of the Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society exhibition was delayed on Saturday morning as the result of a break in at the exhibition centre where the event was being staged. Intruders cut their way through the perimeter fence before forcing an entry to a building. They made off with a considerable amount of new model railway stock belonging to one of the trade stands attending the exhibition. The stolen items were loaded into building material cube bags and a larger section of the perimeter fence was then cut away to enable the bags to be dragged away to a parked vehicle on a remote track running between the grounds of the venue and the river the police believe. The raid was almost certainly pre-planned and well executed by an organised crime group from outside of the area. (Other exhibition organisers please take note).
Scenes of crime investigators attended and collected a number of items of interest left by the raiders. Police Officers are also collecting CCTV material for review from the venue and the wider local area.
The exhibition was eventually able to fully open to the public at 12:30 pm on Saturday morning and has been open as normal today, Sunday 8th March 2020 from 10:00am.
Leamington & Warwick Model Railway Society club members expressed concern that there have been a number of similar incidents across the country in the recent past but are pleased to report that on this occasion the intruders have not touched any of the models on display and no further damaged was been caused."

[Hobby]

I don't think we should be making any connection with the vandalism of last year. This was a burglary pure and simple. Second time Cheltenham Model Centre (one of the traders robbed) have been "done"... Hope they catch the ratbags!

[clayliner]

Agreed - it's not the same as last year's episode but is nonetheless a salutary warning to all exhibitors, and especially traders, who may have thousands of pounds worth of boxed items on their stand. I wonder if show insurance would normally cover such losses?

David.

[Stan Williams]

Usually, traders have to have there own insurance because many of them  will be at a different show every weekend or nearly
every other weekend.
In some cases a trader can have a stand at a couple of shows on the same weekend,
Cheltenham Models,  Charlie Petti,  Booklaw , Squires  come to mind.

A trader who has a large stand would struggle to set it up on the morning of a show.

Stan.