A Montrose beautician has said she feels “violated” after a thief snuck into her salon and made off with a box of cash holding £150.
The incident took place on Friday afternoon, when a man crept into the businesses and stole a cash box while staff were dealing with customers.
Man snuck into salon while staff were working
Salon owner Arlene Goodwin said: “It was about 2pm and my colleague was working in the treatment room on her own.
“She heard somebody come in and they went into the kitchen and put the light on.
“She just assumed that it was one of the staff because no customer would go in there.
“The person was in for quite a few minutes, it was very quiet, it was calm.
“Usually we’d come out and check to see who it was but because the light went on and she was busy with a treatment she just assumed it was us.
“I remember her saying that her hand was actually on the door, she was ready to open it but she just thought it was us and didn’t bother.
“I’m actually quite glad she didn’t go in because he might have done something to her.”
After finishing with the customer she had been working on, the employee discovered that all the notes in her cash box had been taken.
She phoned Arlene and after taking another look they found that the owner’s cash box had been stolen too.
Screenshots of CCTV posted online
Following the discovery, Arlene contacted the police.
She was told that officers would be in touch with her, however after hearing nothing for the rest of the day she decided to take matters into her own hands.
CCTV cameras at a nearby business had captured footage of a man leaving Perfect Harmony with the cash box and the next day Arlene posted screenshots of the video to Facebook in an effort to find the thief.
She said: “I just put (the screenshots) everywhere I knew to see if anybody would recognise him.
“There’s bound to be somebody out there that knows him.
“Everybody’s been absolutely brilliant, I’ve had people messaging me, stopping me in the street.
“I think that Montrose is quite good for that. Everybody sticks together and everybody really does support each other.
“I’ve been speaking to people today that don’t even know me and they’ve been so nice.”
‘I’m feeling very angry’
While she appreciates the community support, Arlene is still outraged by the theft.
She added: “I’m feeling very angry, very angry about it and violated that someone would come into my property and take something that belongs to me and colleagues.
“It’s not a massive amount of money, but everybody’s struggling at the moment.
“We’re away to go into a massive recession and somebody walks out the door with my money.
“It’s not fair. I’ve got children to support and staff to look after.”
A spokesperson for Police Scotland added: “We can confirm that a report has been received regarding a theft from a premises on George Street, Montrose, which took place on the afternoon of Friday, 27 May, 2022.
“Inquiries are at an early stage.”
