COOKING oil in Ascot and the Sunnings is being targeted by thieves, police have revealed.

At around 9.30am on Wednesday, March 29 a man driving a white transit van pulled up in the High Street and stole around 150 litres of used cooking oil.

Fortunately for police, a bystander was able to take down the van’s registration and the offender was able to be traced back to an address in London.

The man has previous for the offence and has already been convicted in the past, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police said.

“This has been an ongoing issue. The owner of the van has been convicted of this offence in the past and carried out similar offence in Burgess Hill, West Sussex," he said. 

Elsewhere, police are also warning members of the public to be wary of courier fraud following an incident in North Ascot.

On March 28 a member of the public was telephoned by a man claiming to be a manager called ‘Paul Williams’ from Barclays Bank.

It was explained to the victim that his cards needed to be collected as soon as possible and a courier would be sent to collect them.

While still on the phone, the courier arrived and collected the bank cards after the victim had told the caller PIN numbers for three credit cards.

After thinking it was suspicious, the victim phone his Barclays later in the day and it was explained to him he had been defrauded and a large amount of cash had been removed from his account.