A KINSON woman was left stunned after she woke to find three wooden panels had been pinched from her fence.

Emma Tidball, who lives in Youngs Road, awoke on Sunday morning to find a gaping hole in the fence at the side of her house.

“I came down to let the dogs and chickens out and they had gone,” the 30-year-old explained.

“I just thought: ‘It’s ridiculous,’” she added.

During a visit to B&Q the pharmaceutical rep was told she would have to buy the more expensive panels because the cheaper ones had sold out.

“I went down to B&Q and was told there is a national shortage of fence panels at the moment because of the storms.

“They must have thought: ‘I can’t get the cheaper ones so I’ll just take hers,’” she said.

Miss Tidball has now secured her fence with chains after spending £90 on replacements.

A spokesman from Dorset Police said there have been five reported thefts of fence panels since the start of the year around the county. The panels taken from the fence were painted green on one side.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police on 101 quoting crime reference number C14C8652.

The shortage explained

Steve Randall, managing director at the Fencing Centre, said due to the recent storms, demand for new panels has increased drastically over the past few months.
He said: “At the moment we have had to stop selling to members of the public and are only selling to our trade customers.
“As well as the drastic increase in demand we have had ongoing problems with getting the materials.
“Because the forest is so wet we can't get the large machinery in to cut the timber.”