Thieves steal vehicle from award winning Swansea cinema
An award winning mobile cinema has had its van stolen which included important equipment necessary to carry out their show.
The bright yellow Ford Transit Custom was stolen from Penclawdd on North Gower on Thursday 16th April by a gang of thieves who arrived in a black hatchback car at 1am. A neighbours CCTV footage show the gang drive off
in the car, followed by the stolen Sol Cinema’s yellow van.
The theft was a spate of other similar vans being stolen but the same gang on that same night. Police have stated that “there have been a number of thefts of vehicles overnight”.
Another Ford Transit was stolen in Dunvant within minutes of the Sol Cinema van being stolen.
Co-founder of the Sol Cinema, Paul O’Connor said; “The theft of our van is a devastating blow to our show. We choose a bright yellow van as our cinema is completely powered by the Sun. Our solar panels generate the renewable energy to power our projector, lights, sound and computer.
Sol Cinema has toured all over the UK, Ireland and the EU entertaining tens of thousands of people with short films, usherettes and popcorn. The van was a recent purchase and was was just finished being kitted out for this Summers festival tour, which includes Glastonbury and Camp Bestival in Dorset.
Our vital tools and equipment were in the stolen van which we can not afford to replace now. We don’t know what we will do now”
The Sol Cinema has won a Digital Hero award for best digital communication project for its use of 100% solar power. Sol Cinema are appealing to anyone who may have had their vehicle stolen that same night to get in touch. Perhaps someone has CCTV footage of the thieves faces.