Two men have been arrested after shoes were stolen in a raid on a designer footwear store – but the thieves only made off with hundreds of right-foot shoes.
The men, aged 18 and 19, are currently in police custody after a burglary at Lanx Shoes in Whalley, Lancashire.
The 19-year-old was stopped following a police chase on the A59, while the 18-year-old was arrested soon after.
The designer brand was started by Marco Vaghetti in 2017 and is based in Lancashire, but also has a store on Oak Street in Manchester.
A staff member was left perplexed by the bizarre raid which left the store with hundreds of left-foot shoes.
‘They stole about 100 individual shoes,’ the staff member, who preferred to remain anonymous, said.
‘They’re not pairs, they’re all the right foot of a pair. About 100 shoes, so Marco has nicknamed them the “half-a-pair bandits”.
‘It’s so odd because in shoe shops, you never display a full pair of shoes. They ran into the shop, didn’t look at what they were taking and just bundled shoes into their arms and ran out.
CCTV footage showed the moment the burglars broke into the shop and grabbed the individual shoes
The door to Lanx Shoes in Whalley, Lancashire, was smashed in by the burglars
Video footage showed glass to the door of the store had been smashed by the vandals
‘It was just so odd. There were other things in the shop of value.’
Video footage from the morning after the break-in showed the damage to the shop with smashed glass on the ground from the shop door.
The staff member said they hope to continue business as usual, despite the burglary on Monday, January 19.
‘They helped themselves to everything they could and drove off.’ The staff member continued.
‘There was a bit of a police chase and they caught them on the A59. We’ve tried to clear up as much as we can so customers can still come in and shop.
‘It’s a bit disappointing because we do a lot to support the local community. Our Manchester store got broken into a couple of years ago, so it’s not the first time this has happened.’
A spokesperson for Lancashire Constabulary said: ‘We were called at 11.47pm yesterday (January 19) to Lanx Shoes, Mitton Road, Whalley, to a report of burglary. Our officers attended and it was found that a quantity of shoes had been stolen.
‘A car was stopped on the A59 at Langho at 12.10am today following a pursuit and a 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
‘An 18-year-old man was arrested shortly afterwards in Brockhall Village on suspicion of burglary. Both are currently in custody.’
