After months of hard work allotment gardeners didn't get the chance to taste the fruits of their labours.
Thieves snatched ready-to-pick vegetables from two allotment sites in Tring.
Produce including parsnips, carrots, beetroot and leaks, estimated to be worth around £100 were taken from the New Mill Allotments between 2pm on Thursday and 11am on Fri
day (September 18/19).
Plot holder and Tring Town Councillor John Allan said: "The scale of this theft means that it is not a starving family - these vegetables have been stolen to be sold.
"It is heartbreaking to work all year round to raise autumn vegetables, then to have them stolen just when they are at their prime. However, since we do not spray our vegetables much, the thieves may find they have a large crop of caterpillars as well as vegetables."
In the same week, thieves struck at Mortimer Hill Allotments in the town, taking leeks and cabbages.
Margaret Flanigan from Tring Charities, which runs the site, said: "I suspect the vegetables might have been taken to sell on because it is a bit too much for one household.
"If it continues like this it will put people off because the allotment holders have put a lot of effort in and all for nothing. They are very disappointed."
Meanwhile, allotment sites owned by Tring Town Council in Duckmore Lane and Bulbourne have not been targeted. However, chair of the Tring Allotment Association Lynda Hobley said: "We are keeping an eye on it just in case. We have heard national reports that it is on the increase."
Herts Police would like anyone with information about the thefts to call the non-emergency number on 0845 33 00 222.
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