£205,000. That’s the estimated value of two HGV trailers and more than 800 barrels of Guinness stolen from a Runcorn depot.
The theft happened in two separate movements on the same evening, Monday, August 31, at an industrial estate in the Aston Lane area, according to Cheshire Police.
“It is famously said that ‘Guinness is good for you’, but that is only the case when it has been bought and paid for,” Detective Sergeant McClatchey said.
About £115,000. That is just the Guinness, the station noted. The two trailers made up the remainder of the estimated loss.
The first lorry arrived at about 7.45pm. It was then connected to a trailer described to have been loaded with Guinness barrels. Ten minutes later it left towards the Mersey Gateway.
The second lorry arrived at 9.12pm. It was connected to another Guinness-loaded trailer and took off at about 9.30pm towards Rainhill and Watkinson Way.
The trailers are described as white tri-axle curtain-siders. With GXO branding on the curtains and rear doors. Their identifying numbers were noted as DL736 and DL542. Cheshire Police believe both HGVs were driven by men. The first driver is described as white. With a short dark beard and a beanie hat. The second believed to be wearing a cap.
The timing and routes of the two departures sit at the centre of the police appeal.
“Will settle for nothing less than” the full recovery. That’s what DS McClatchey said officers want. The stolen Guinness and trailers.
He also asked motorists in the area at the time to check dashcam footage. Anything that could help the investigation.
Anyone with information or video footage is asked to contact Cheshire Police through its website or by calling 101, quoting incident reference IML-2408641.
The Runcorn theft sits against a wider backdrop of freight crime in Britain. In 2024 the Road Haulage Association called for freight crime to be made a specific criminal offence, saying the problem cost the UK economy an estimated £420 million in 2023.
Data cited by TAPA EMEA recorded 6,506 criminal attacks on UK supply chains in the two years to July 2024. Reported losses were about €110 million, and that figure covered only the less than 13% of incidents that included a value.
This was not the first reported disappearance of a large Guinness shipment in Britain. In December 2024 a lorry carrying 400 50-litre kegs — about 35,200 pints — was stolen from a logistics hub near Daventry, Northamptonshire.
That theft came in a period of unusually high demand for Guinness.
