Historic machinery stolen

A HISTORIC piece of machinery being kept in storage until a place could be found for it to be placed on public display has been stolen.
Police are investigating the theft of the machine – once used as Caldwell’s Stockton Heath Force – from a site at Trafford Park, Manchester.
It is understood two men employed by a contractor have been suspended following the disappearance of the billet cutter.
The machine used to be on display at Stockton Heath’s Forge Shopping Centre but was removed when refurbishment of the shopping centre was carried out.
It was rescued from a scrapyard by local campaigners who believed it should be preserved as a monument to Stockton Heath’s industrial past.
Peel Holdings – owners of the Manchester Ship Canal – have been storing the machine until such time as a permanent location could be found for it in Stockton Heath.
Peter Briggs, clerk to Stockton Heath Parish Council, said today: “I have been informed by Peel Holdings that the theft has been reported to police.
“I understand it was broken up and taken to a scrapyard at Trafford Park and then taken to Liverpool for export.
“Apparently a search has been made to try and find it, but with 200,000 tonnes of scrap metal awaiting export at Liverpool it has proved impossible to find it.”
Patrick Mullee, one of the campaigners who rescued the machine the first time it went missing, said: “This is terrible news. There are two machines, and the other is still stored at Caldwell’s premises in Warrington. But this is the larger, more interesting machine.
“We did visit Trafford Park some time ago and saw the machine on a demolition site at Barton Dock Road. We did express concerns about security at that time and Peel Holdings said they would move it to a more secure site.
“But we don’t know if they ever did.”
Pictured…not the stolen machine but a similar one when it was on display at the Forge Shopping Centre.