A specialist sports van worth £12,000 has been stolen from Walton.

The red sports 2011 Ford Transit limited edition was taken in the early hours of Friday morning.

Owner Robert Harrelson had left the vehicle parked in front of his house in Station Street.

Just after 1am, two men turned up and walked past the neighbour’s house and were caught on CCTV.

“You can see their faces as clear as anything,” continued the 47-year-old.

The men are described as white, wearing shorts. One was balding and the other wore a baseball cap.

Robert believes the specialist nature of his van means it was stolen to order.

“There was an alarm on the van and am immobiliser. The scariest thing is they got in with a key,” he said.

Such a key, he said, may have been bought online, an issue he said is concerning Ford nationally.

The two men were off within six minutes.

The care worker told the police, who sent around a PCSO.

He placed the CCTV footage on the Walton Network Facebook page and says a Kirby resident saw the van go past their business, followed by another car, which could have been their look-out.

Robert also hired a van and spent the weekend driving around Walton and Kirby looking for the van.

“If they think there’s a tracker on it, they might hide it down a quiet country road,” he explained.

Its registration is EF11KVJ, though it has probably been changed.

“I feel so gutted. You work so hard for things. What right have people to steal it?” he said.

Robert also accuses the police of not showing enough interest in tracking down the offenders. He said had he not had the CCTV footage, they would not have sent the PCSO around.

Essex Police said they are investigating the August 5 theft. Enquiries are ongoing and officers have been reviewing local CCTV, said a statement.

Officers are appealing for witnesses and ask anyone with information to contact them via 101.