THE owner of a garage said he is one of three to be targeted by a gang.

Graham Long, who owns Graham Long Car Centre in Bromley Road, Colchester, was alerted when the alarm at his business was going off.

He went down to the car centre but did not see any damage until later that morning.

CCTV at the garage showed at about 4am yesterday three men had tried to break in.

Mr Long, who has been at the site in Bromley Road for about 30 years, said: “I travelled up to the garage and noticed the door had been jemmied open.

“They had also ripped two CCTV cameras off the wall.

“One of the cameras is quite well hidden so it makes me wonder if they knew the site.

“I have been here for years and I have never had any trouble.”

It is believed the alarm must have scared the three men off, as they fled without taking anything.

Mr Long said after calling the police, another two garages in the area had also reported attempted break-ins on the same night.

He added: “They may have been trying to steal tools or the keys to cars so they could drive them away.

“Luckily they didn’t take anything, they just caused a bit of damage.

“The three men had their hoods up and were wearing gloves, you can’t see their faces.

“One of them was also carrying a crowbar.

“It doesn’t look like I’m the only one being targeted. This doesn’t seem like just a small thing.”

About £1,000 worth of damage has been caused to the car centre in addition to the cost of replacing the CCTV cameras which were torn down.

Mr Long wanted to warn other garages in the area to be vigilant.

On the same night Nannas Day Nurseries, about ten minutes down the road, reported having the office window smashed.

At about 10.17pm, a group were caught on CCTV climbing over the car park fence and looking around the building for roughly 20 minutes, before smashing the office window with a paving slab.

Luckily nothing was stolen and the nursery was open as normal yesterday, having cleared up.

There is nothing to suggest these incidents were connected.

Police have been contacted about the attempted break-in at the car centre.

Anyone with information about any of the break-ins should call Essex Police on 101.

Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via the website on crimestoppers-uk.org.