A PICKUP truck has been stolen from a forestry site while its owner was working less than a mile away.

The Mitsubishi L200 Warrior was nicked from next to a caravan in a woodland near Croftamie, Stirlingshire, at around 5pm on Tuesday.

Police are now appealing for information into the theft, which also saw a generator taken from a second nearby caravan. 

Owner Neil Campbell said: "It was a hell of a day. 

"I had just been down to my caravan for dinner about an hour before when the harvester operator I was working with finished up for the day and headed down. 

"He came back and told me my pick up was gone. I wasn't that long away – but it wasn't there. I hadn't moved it, so we went down to check.

"Something has been used to pop the caravan door open and get the keys. His generator was also stolen. 

"They didn't leave any tracks or marks. No quad tracks. It was as if they had walked in or cycled." 

The forwarder operator added: "The police said it wasn't common in this area. We're four miles from the road, but the pickup was parked just half a mile away from us. It's so close." 

Neil and his colleague tried to chase after the truck, but gave up after finding some of his possessions scattered along the forest road. 

Forestry Journal:

"On the way out of the forest, we actually found my multivitamins that must have been lying in the passenger seat," Neil, from Argyll and Bute, said. "They've obviously rummaged through that, checking for a tracker or something. 

"They were very calm and collected. They didn't horse the pickup out of the forest." 

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We received a report of a stolen vehicle from a forestry site on Tuesday, 7 February."

Anyone with information is asked to call 101.