A CATERING van was broken into and ransacked by thieves in Ringwood.

Hot Box, which is located near Embankment Way, is run by Sandra Hodder. The break-in was reported to police just after 11.15am on December 13.

Sandra, who has run the business for just over two years, says mostly food was taken as well as a panini machine and a charity box. The thieves damaged the door hinges to get inside.

The fridges were also left open, which meant hundreds of pounds worth of food had to be thrown away.

She said: “They took everything and off they went. They even took the cakes in the cake tin and even the fruit bowl with fruit in. It is very frustrating.”

“I’ve had it done once before but that was about 18 months ago,” said Sandra. “Last time we were able to trade the following day but this time because they left all the fridges open and we had no stock - we literally had nothing not even a can of drink, a packet of crisps or a bar of chocolate left in the place.”

Sandra says she lost two days of trading but says she the business is back to work and that her customers have been “absolutely fantastic” offering to help.

"It is just the mess and the aftermath of everything. People don’t think you have lost all that money you haven’t earned and the impact. It has a knock on effect on everything," she said.

“When you work hard you think why would people [do this]? If someone was really hungry and had absolutely nothing and they came to me and said could I have something to eat I would do them something to eat. You don’t need to steal from me.

"This was just malicious, they knew what they wanted because of the way they tried to get in."

The door was “bent out of shape” and took a day to repair it.

She added: “It doesn’t matter how many locks you have on your doors, if they want to get in they’ll get in.

"It wasn’t opportunistic.

“Several places have been done around Ringwood. It is so frustrating for everybody.”

Her daughter Olivia Holt set up a Just Giving Crowdfunding page to raise £1,000 to help restock and get the business back up and running.

Sandra says she has been overwhelmed by the support, adding: “The general impact on your whole business, we all work hard and something like this, without this Just Giving [page], it would take me months to get back to where I was.

“I’d just liked to say thank you to everyone that has been so kind and thoughtful. There are some great people out there. I’ve got really good customers”

Anyone with information should call Hampshire Constabulary on 101, quoting 44180463551.