A SHIPMENT of wheelchairs destined for disabled children and elderly people in the south has been stolen in a raid on a Hampshire industrial estate.

The eight wheelchairs, valued at £1,000 each, were wrapped in cardboard boxes and packed into a trailer, waiting to be delivered to their new owners.

Waiting for them were two disabled children in Alton, two elderly women in Poole, two people in Bournemouth, one in Locks Heath and another in Sturminster Newton, Dorset.

But thieves struck first and although they were caught red-handed on CCTV cameras, they could not be identified.

Police believe they were after the £3,000 trailer.

A spokeswoman said: "Video camera footage shows thieves pushing the trailer out of a car park at New Forest Enterprise Park, Chapel Lane, Totton, at 11.50pm on Wednesday.

"The thieves broke a wheel clamp before pushing the trailer to the road and attaching it to a lorry cab.

Paul Caruana, the wheelchair designer from the stricken business, Liftech, said the recipients were heartbroken.

"I had to call them and say good news, your chair has arrived but the bad news is that it has been stolen".

"Now they have to wait two months for a new chair to be made. I send my drawings, based on the measurements I've made, up to a factory in North Wales, and they make them up to my specifications.

"Two elderly women in Poole had done complete alterations in their bathrooms. They lived months with builders with all the work and now they can't use them because they need these special shower chairs."

Mr Caruana said he feared the thieves would dump the chairs.

"They can't be used for anything else, you couldn't even sell them at a boot sale they are so specialised.

"I am hoping they are going to be dumped in the open so we can pick them up, check them out and send them off.

"I'm going to wait a week to re-order. Once they realise that they've got wheelchairs for some disabled kids it might pull on their heartstrings slightly, but I doubt it."