A MASKED gang smashed open a shop with a car and then fled with a cash dispenser.
The four men struck at Dhesi Stores on Acre Street near the Bay Horse roundabout in Lindley at 2.30am today.
The family who own the shop were woken up by loud noises and looked out of an upstairs window to see a stolen Toyota Hilux abandoned in the middle of the road.
The gang had strapped a plank of wood to the car and used it as a battering ram to push in the front of the shop.
They then dragged the cash dispenser out and loaded it into the back of a blue Vauxhall Zafira.
Police confirmed this morning that this car had been stolen by sneak-in thieves who took its keys from a house on Lightridge Road, Fixby, last Wednesday.
The car - registration number MM52 NPG - was still missing today.
Sgt Tim O'Sullivan, of Huddersfield police, said: "We believe this car may have been used in other burglaries since it was stolen.
"The thieves abandoned the Toyota after using it in the ram raid and also had another car nearby to use in the getaway.''
The raiders are all white, about 5ft 11ins tall and all wore thin blue Goretex-style jackets.
The Toyota had been stolen from Lamb Hall Road in Longwood.
Lindley has suffered from other ram raids since the turn of the year.
Ram raiders smashed the front of the Nisa supermarket in the early hours of January 8 and tied a heavy chain around the cash machine.
But when they tried to pull the machine out of the store, it snapped in half and the raiders fled empty-handed.
And in the early hours of last Monday, ram raiders attacked the Banana Beach childrenswear shop on Lidget Street and stole designer clothes worth £15,000.
Anyone with information should contact Huddersfield detectives on 01484 436582.
