11:42 am, May 28, 2025
Police have launched an investigation after a Porsche Cayenne belonging to a used car dealer was stolen from an MOT centre and used in a ram raid on a nearby Asda.
Motor trader Joe Betty is best known for his successful ‘Shifting Metal’ YouTube channel but he was left less than impressed when one of his vehicles was used to shift the metal shutters on a petrol station convenience store.
Betty had initially purchased the SUV just days prior and had already lined up a buyer and taken a deposit when he sent it for an MOT.
However, while at the garage in Highbridge, a group of men broke into the site using an angle grinder, before making off with the Cayenne and a Ford S-Max.
Both cars were then driven to an Asda petrol station around 20 minutes away, where they were used as battering rams in an attempt to get inside.
The crooks reversed the Porsche into the main entrance to the store before appearing to get stuck on a metal pillar. Meanwhile, the Ford was smashed into a smaller unit outside the store selling items like coal.
Having inflected significant damage both cars, as well as the building, the gang escaped the scene in a getaway vehicle which was on false plates.
The incident took place last Thursday night and the Porsche has since been taken to a nearby recovery yard.
Betty says he has explained the situation to the customer and is now working to find them an alternative vehicle but he remains largely in the dark about the state of his stricken Cayenne.
He told Car Dealer: ‘I bought it from an auction on the Monday, we drove it back on the same day and incredibly it was one of those rare occasions in the motor trade where we’d taken a deposit and it was ready to go out when it was stolen on the Thursday night.
‘We phoned the customer that the morning, just letting them know. They are still trying to buy another car from us but it’s finding the right car for them now, because it was a very nice spec model and had all the right things they wanted.
‘I haven’t seen it as it’s currently at a recovery yard and I’m waiting to see what happens with MOT centre and insurance etcetera.
‘From what I could see [at the petrol station], it looked like it had lost engine oil. Some rumours I’d heard from a couple of different places was it was left running.
‘If that’s the case then the engine will be no good anymore. The back end of the car I haven’t seen unfortunately, because the last time I saw it had an Asda Express parked on it but I can’t imagine it’s great.
‘I think it would probably be salvageable if it weren’t for the engine. It would certainly be thousands of pounds of work, I would guess.’
‘It has made us think about our own security’
Betty says that this is the first time his Berrow Motors dealership has ever experienced anything like this with the closest incident being when a criminal smashed the window in an attempt to steal a Ford Focus ST.
He says that police took DNA evidence at the scene but admitted that he is not optimistic about the chances of seeing the gang brought to justice.
He added: ‘I think in the motor trade you kind of just get used to these weird and wonderful problems that you have.
‘I’m quite nonchalant about it at the moment but I imagine, as it drags on and is just trickling in the background, it get more upsetting.
‘It has made us think about our own security, I guess. We’ve had someone try to steal a car of forecourt before. They smashed the window of a Fiesta ST, but set the alarm off and ran away but that’s about it, really.
‘We’ve been quite lucky up until now, in a sense but this has definitely tipped the scale.
‘The police are working on it, but other than perhaps getting some DNA, which they’ve taken swabs from the scene, I don’t think they’ve got much to go on, because everyone was wearing masks and the getaway car was on cloned plates.
‘The footage that we had of them cutting into the MIT Center, they were so just nonchalant about it that I think this is not their first rodeo. They’ve done it before and I don’t think here’s much hope of conviction coming to be honest.’
A spokesman for Somerset and Avon Police told Car Dealer: ‘At 3.44am on Friday 23 May we received a report of a group of men trying to force entry to a building off the A371 in Locking.
‘Officers arrived five minutes later and found the group had left the area after damaging the building. Officers carried out a search of the area, supported by a specialist dog team, but no one was located.
‘A black Porsche Cayenne and a grey Ford S-Max were found damaged at the scene. Both vehicles are believed to have been stolen during a burglary in Commerce Way, Highbridge earlier in the night.
‘The group of men are believed to have left the area in a blue Audi Q5. They were wearing black clothing and balaclavas.
‘Our investigation to identify them is ongoing.
‘Anyone with information is asked to call 101, using the reference number 5225143650.’
Betty documented the incident on his YouTube channel and the full video can be viewed at the top of this story.
