Garry is convinced the three thieves, all of whom were wearing hoods, were opportunists and is appealing for anyone who is offered such a reel to get in touch with him or the police.

“We’ve got them on CCTV – they at first tried the unit down from us and then came back up and managed to open our shutters,” he said.

“Every time a car passed on the road outside they were switching off the lights.”

The break-in at the Redditch Road premises between Studley and Redditch happened at 1am on Friday morning, September 8, and lasted about half an hour. The cheeky thieves then returned at 4am to steal more goods.

“I arrived at work at 5.30am to put the finishing touches on the reels and get them ready for shipping out and saw the shutters were only half closed and my heart sank,” said Garry, who learnt his trade with Youngs on the Enfield estate before they moved out.

“I set up this business in 2001 and I’ve never taken a wage. I employed my son James in 2008 and now we have four people, and to be honest, losing these reels is going to hit us hard,” said Garry, aged 53.

A further disappointment followed when it took the police five and a half hours to respond to his call although he admits the Seens of Crime Officer was on the ball.

“We know they were wearing Addidas footwear and one of them had on an Addidas top. We’re hoping someone local may have been offered one of these reels and can get in touch,” said Garry.