Thieves broke into a Cockermouth restaurant in the early hours of Tuesday morning and stole the ATM machine.

They took a window out of The Brewer's Fayre restaurant, next to the Premier Inn, at Oakhurst, and stole the free standing cash dispenser. It was empty.

Alarms went off and the Premier Inn night reception called police who arrived shortly after.

General manager Jamie Loryman had left the site half an hour earlier, at 2am.

"They must have been outside waiting for me to finish.

"Half an hour later it seems they drilled into two corners of the window and popped it out. They only took the ATM, they seem to have come for one thing," he said.

"There was nothing in it, we do not keep money in the tills or ATM over night.

"It wasn't bolted down as we were planning on getting rid of it."

CCTV cameras are in operation at the hotel and restaurant.

A police spokesman said: "It has been carried out to a waiting car – believed to be an estate car.

"We are urging anyone with information about this incident or who saw anything suspicious to contact police.

“We would also like to make other businesses in the area aware of this offence so they can take crime prevention steps aimed at securing their own machines whilst we continue our investigation."