THIEVES have left a Hampshire engineer tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket after swiping tools worth £30,000 from his van.

Now Dave Wilkins is spending £1,000 a week to hire specialist equipment to install fibre optic cables.

And he is offering a £500 reward for information that means he gets the tools back.

Mr Wilkins, 32, had parked his van outside his home in Caerleon Avenue, Bitterne, Southampton, overnight and thought he had made sure the tools were tucked out of sight.

But as soon as he opened the doors he realised something was wrong.

The father-of-one, who runs his own company, Linkwhiz Ltd, said: "I work for myself and have spent a lot of money assembling the tools I need to do my job. I've got a family to

support and a mortgage to pay.

"I'm having to rent new fibre optic tools for £1,000 a week to fulfil my contracts, leaving me thousands of pounds out of pocket.

"All the stolen tools have got serial numbers on them and there are very few people or companies who would be interested in them. Certainly if they were offered them by a man or woman on the street they would get very suspicious.

"I've reported the theft to the police and now I'm just left waiting for news."

Mr Wilkins served in the Royal Navy as a submarine sonar operator before taking a college course that gave him the skills to take up fibre optic engineering six years ago.

He added: "If I have to pay £500 to get my tools back I will pay it. It will save me a lot of money in the long term."

Anyone with information about the tools should contact Bitterne police station on 0845 045 4545.