A Ferry business owner could be left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after an attempted break-in at his store left part of his front door smashed.
Designer clothing store Millars of Broughty Ferry has captured a yob on CCTV trying to force his way into the store on Gray Street shortly after 2am on Wednesday morning.
The incident came a short time before the M&S Foodhall on Brook Street was targeted in an almost identical incident where a door was damaged just before 6am.
Police are now investigating both of the incidents from this week.
Jonathan Booth, who owns Millars, will now look to “ramp up” security at his store.
“It’s hard enough trying to stay positive as it is at the moment, so something like this happening is a kick in the teeth,” he said.
“We’ve got all the shops on Gray Street but it’s the new menswear store that’s been targeted during this incident.
“We’ve caught the man on CCTV at around 2.15am, obviously with it being so dark outside it’s hard to make him out. It does look like it was someone acting alone.
“I would place him at around 5ft 7ins in height but that’s about as much as we can really tell.
“He is using an instrument which we believe is a crowbar to break his way into the store and he spends around three to four minutes trying to break-in.
“Our doors are all quite strong and there was no way he was going to burst the door open, I think out of frustration he has started whacking the glass.
“He did have tools in a bag, you see him looking around, it’s like he gets disturbed and run’s off.”
Jonathan said he was now counting the costs following the failed attempt to break-in to the shop.
He added: “When I go to the insurance, your going to have your excess, the panel that was damaged and the door itself your probably talking anything between £400 to £600 to fix it.
“By the time you pay your excess it’s not worth the hassle. I’ve contacted the police about the incident as well but they can’t come out until Friday.
“I’m aware of the matter at the M&S Foodhall after reading the story online, it looks very similar to what’s happened here.
“I put a post out on social media with an image of the person and the extent of the damage that has been caused and people were sharing the appeal.
“We’ve obviously had a few incidents in the past but this is the first nature of this kind.
“Fellow traders in the Ferry also got in touch after seeing the appeal just saying how disappointed they were by what had happened.
“As a traders association we’ve worked through the good and the bad times and I’ve appreciated them getting in touch.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman added : “We were called to a property on Gray Street, Broughty Ferry on Wednesday 17 March 2021 at around 12.55pm to reports of an attempted break-in.
“Enquiries are ongoing.”