Police spend 5 hours hunting for 'man stuck in vent' at Aldi in South Yorkshire
'It turns out there wasn’t anyone after all'
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Your support makes all the difference.Police and fire crews spent more than five hours trying to rescue a man thought to be stuck in the roof of an Aldi supermarket in South Yorkshire – only to establish that there was never anyone there.
A number of news outlets reported a man had been trapped in a vent for hours, after reports of a late-night attempted burglary at the store in Dinnington, near Rotherham.
But while the store was closed to customers and at least four police cars and a fire engine attended the scene all morning, shortly after 3pm a spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police told The Independent there was in fact nobody stuck there to set free.
Concerned members of staff are understood to have heard noises in the roof and, having been told there was a burglar there just hours earlier, called the emergency services.
“Staff had told us there was someone stuck in the roof,” a police spokeswoman said. “We’ve gone there, the fire service have gone, to see if there’s actually someone in there.
“It turns out there wasn’t anyone after all,” she added.
In a statement, the force said that after two searches of the scene, it was finally satisfied “there is no one in the roof”.
“Following reports of a man inside a supermarket roof in Dinnington, a thorough search has been conducted and police can confirm that there is no one in the roof,” police said.
“After receiving a call at about 8.55am, emergency services attended the supermarket in Littlefield Road. Engineers searched the roof and are now satisfied that there is no one there.
“At about 1.25am this morning, it was reported that the shop had been broken into and entry had been gained via the ceiling air duct system. Officers attended and searched the area but the offender was not located.”
Police added that enquiries into the matter of the reported burglary were still taking place, and asked for anyone with information to get in touch via 101.
An Aldi spokeswoman said the matter had been dealt with by the police, and the company would not be issuing a further statement.
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