Britain is witnessing the resurgence of a crime it believed was long conquered, now emerging with a more alarming twist. Police forces find themselves struggling to manage this new wave of offenses.

Organized criminal groups are employing stolen vehicles, including vans, 4x4s, motorbikes, and even heavy construction equipment, to violently breach shops, supermarkets, banks, and jewelers across the nation in a series of brazen ram-raids.

Once seen as a simplistic smash-and-grab tactic of the 1980s, ram-raiding has transformed into a sophisticated, high-impact approach. These gangs are often long gone before law enforcement can respond.

Police departments throughout the country are confronting what insiders have labeled a ‘relentless’ series of attacks, affecting not only urban centers but also rural communities.

Experts caution that ram-raiding has evolved into one of the most effective and challenging crimes for authorities to combat in the UK.

Kevin Moore, a former head of CID at Sussex Police, has highlighted the stark reasons behind the increase in these incidents.

He said: ‘There is an obvious reason for this escalation in so-called ram raid offences.

‘The rewards are high and the risks of being caught are low.

‘The ability of the police to respond quickly even to emergency calls has decreased in recent years – due solely to the fact that front line policing has been decimated due to a shortage of numbers.

‘Additionally, because such offences do not involve violence against the person they tend to attract less severe prison sentences.’

There are no official national figures – but a glance at police appeals and local newspaper reports paints a grim picture, backed up by CCTV footage showing brazen raids unfolding in seconds.

In one shocking incident last October, residents in Milton Keynes filmed a telehandler being used to tear an ATM clean out of a supermarket wall.

The heavy machinery smashed through the shop front dragged the cash machine into the street, hoisted it into the air and dropped it into the back of a waiting pick-up truck.

Masked thieves then fled, abandoning the telehandler and leaving rubble strewn across the road.

Karolina Oswiecimska, who filmed the ram raid, said: ‘My daughter heard cars and after a minute, she heard something like a chainsaw.

‘When she looked, they were already ripping out the ATM.

‘She called me and I started recording. My partner called the police.

‘Everything was going so fast. They were there maybe for five to seven minutes.’

In nearby Towcester, raiders this month repeated a similar feat – stealing a telehandler before driving it to a nearby Nationwide branch.

Once there, they used the stolen construction vehicle to tear a cash machine from the wall, wrecking the branch’s facade.

Northamptonshire Police said the gang then lowered the ATM into a blue Mercedes Vito van, which had a hole cut into the roof specifically to accommodate the machine, before fleeing the scene.

Meanwhile in Retford, Notts, CCTV footage captured the moment a stolen digger was used in a botched ram raid on a Spar convenience store.

The offenders, John Charles and Reuben Reynolds, smashed through the shop’s front wall in the early hours of March 14 2023, triggering alarms and leaving bricks and debris strewn across the pavement.

Both men were jailed for four years in August 2024.  

Jewellery stores have also been targeted with increasing boldness by ram-raiders.

Disturbing footage from a historic shopping arcade in Bognor Regis shows a stolen Range Rover creeping into position before its driver accelerates sharply, ripping the steel security grille clean off a jeweller’s shop.

The force was so violent it smashed the windows of a neighbouring business.

Within moments, thieves were inside, smashing display cabinets and grabbing £40,000 of gold, silver and luxury watches in a slick raid lasting barely four minutes.

No arrests have yet been made following the November heist.

In another case, phone footage this month captured a motorbike-mounted gang descending on a Rolex boutique in affluent Knightsbridge in West London.

Armed with crowbars, they threatened staff, scooped up high-value watches and fled in under three minutes.

Images show smashed glass cabinets and one motorbike seemingly abandoned inside the Bucherer Rolex Boutique at One Hyde Park.

Daylight attacks are also becoming increasingly common.

In March 2024, ram raiders smashed into a post office in east London and stole a cash machine – before struggling to load it into the boot of their getaway car.

Video footage shows three hooded men using rope attached to a truck to haul the ATM away from the store front in Harold Hill, tearing a part of the building away with it.

They then attempt to open the machine with an angle grinder before struggling to load it into the back of a getaway car and fleeing the scene.

The scourge is not confined to cities – but towns and villages, where the local ATM is often a vital lifeline.

In Olney, Buckinghamshire, thieves used machinery to smash into a Nationwide branch for the second time.

The heavy vehicle was driven straight into the building in October, targeting the area where the ATM was installed and leaving the listed building’s facade torn wide open.

In July 2018, the front of the former Barclays in the market town was almost completely destroyed when a JCB digger was driven through the front and thieves made off with a cash machine.

In Hoyland, near Rotherham, ram-raiders struck this month for the second time – snatching cigarettes and leaving a huge bill for damage.

Criminals used two cars to smash their way through shutters on the front of the Cloughfields Convenience store to grab cigarettes worth an estimated £3,000 to £4,000.

Shopkeeper Asim Sehzad told how he was left facing a £20,000 repair bill.

In Kidsgrove, Staffs, a JCB was used to smash into a Co-op store – demolishing posts used to deter ram-raiders.

Co-ops in Billingham, Lincs; Newent, Glos, and Chandler’s Ford, Hants have also been targeted in recent weeks.

Meanwhile in Wittering, Cambs, an excavator was used to plough into community shop, ripping out the ATM.

Even the smallest communities are not being spared.

In Cheddar, Somerset – a village better known for tourism than violent crime – masked gangs last year targeted three shops in four separate attacks.

Shop owner Elaine Moodie was left devastated after up to £20,000 worth of Jellycat toys were stolen in minutes from her The Gorge Bear Company store.

CCTV shows thieves ramming the door of the property with a vehicle before stuffing a heap of the fluffy toys into a bag before fleeing.

Ms Moodie said: We’ve worked so hard to build the business up to this level and to have someone come in and do that to us is just heart-wrenching.

‘We have no idea (where they’ve come from), we don’t think that they’re local but we do think they did their homework before the thefts.

‘You don’t expect it in a beautiful place like Cheddar.’

In Addingham, West Yorkshire, two women secretly filmed a telehandler smashing through the wall of a village Co-op just before 2am last February.

Their whispered commentary, as the gang struggled to make their escape with the heavy machine, revealed their disbelief at the destruction.

One gasped: ‘Oh my God they are bringing half the building down.’

Two suspects were later arrested by West Yorkshire Police.

While the spate of ram-raids continues to alarm communities across Britain, police insist that some of those responsible are being caught – and jailed.

One such offender is Tony Smith, a serial burglar who carried out a brazen cross-country crime spree that saw five ATMs and seven vehicles stolen in a matter of weeks.

Smith, 26, of Cambridgeshire, was jailed for seven years and six months in November after admitting to raids in Dorset, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

Another raider, Kayne Palmer, 33, was locked up after a violent ram-raid left terrified shop owners trapped upstairs as a stolen van smashed into their business below.

Palmer, 33, was caught on camera ramming into Bestwood Hill Food and Wine in Nottingham using a stolen vehicle in October 2023. 

He was seen stealing £8,000 worth cigarettes and booze.

CCTV also captured the moment a stolen pickup truck was used in a ram raid at a Tesco Express store in Northwich, Cheshire.

Driver Robin Vaughan stole more than £3,000 in cash as well as a bag of parcels, at around 12,40am on June 16 last year.

The 35-year-old of Lyon Close, St Helens caused more than £35,000 worth of damage to the store and was jailed for three years.