A shop owner has been left with a bill running into thousands of pounds after his store was ram-raided overnight with cigarettes and vapes stolen.

Ashish Gajjar, has been left to pick up the pieces after three thieves smashed a car into his Spar store on Regents Park Road, Southampton.

The break-in happened at 11.46pm on Wednesday as Ashish was preparing to go to bed when he was alerted by neighbours.

The 44-year-old, who has owned his store for 14 years, rushed out of his house.

CCTV from the shop shows the moment one of the thieves reverses a black Citroen into the storefront three times. Two others then rush into the store, as the driver joins them.


Dad-of-two Ashish told the Echo: “I was about to go to bed and I heard my phone ring and it was the upstairs neighbour and he just told me to come quickly.

“I only live around the corner so I came straight here and I saw my shutters had been demolished and I figured that I had been ram-raided.

The damage to the store following the ram-raidThe damage to the store following the ram-raid (Image: Ashish Gajjar, 44) The storefront moments before the car reversed into itThe storefront moments before the car reversed into it (Image: Ashish Gajjar) The car reversed into the the Spar storeThe car reversed into the Spar store 

READ MORE: CCTV footage released after £500 of medicine stolen from Superdrug store

With the entrance to his store completely destroyed, Ashish has now been left to pick up the tab.

He estimates that replacing the front door, the store shutter and the slushy machine near the entrance will cost him £7,000.

Adding in the cost of replacing the cigarettes and vapes stolen of about £6,000, he said he will be left with a £13,000 bill.

This comes after he gave the store a complete revamp in May after 14 years in business, which cost him £90,000.

Ashish GajjarAshish Gajjar (Image: NQ)

'It's not fair'

He said: “You work so hard, seven days a week to make sure everything is up to date, and nothing is going wrong so that in three minutes people just destroy your business. It’s not fair.

“Instead of working hard, they just take the easy way out and steal which comes at a massive price for businesses like mine.

“I now have to figure out how I am going to bring it back to how it was.”

Police were called at 11.48pm to the report of the burglary taking place at the Spar.

They confirmed that cigarettes and vapes were stolen and that officers are investigating.