A charity has spoken out after heartless thieves have stolen a mobile information van used by a charity which supports young people with drug and alcohol issues.

Hundreds of young people, aged up to 19, are supported by the Children’s Society’s Essex Young People’s Drug and Alcohol Service, which works from satellite bases in Springfield Road, Chelmsford, and Basildon and Colchester.

But a key part of the alcohol and drug support scheme is operated by volunteers from a white Ford Transit van on the street to meet and offer help and advice to young people who might otherwise be unaware of the service.

The van was stolen from outside the Galleywood Youth Centre in Watchhouse Road, Chelmsford, after a safety clamp was sawn off of one of the wheels.

Mark Munday, Deputy Programme Manager at The Children’s Society in Essex, said: “Our services have turned young people’s lives around and helped them get off drugs altogether.

“We support young people in a non-judgemental way to help them to recognise their problems and motivate them to make better choices.

“Where they are in difficulty we provide more intensive support or help them access the medical services they need.

“We used the van to get out and about and meet young people who might otherwise not receive the advice and support they need.

“We would use it for street work, parking up on the street, in parks, car parks, skate parks, and meet young people directly.

“The theft of our only dedicated mobile information unit is a bitter blow and has thrown a huge spanner in the works of our summer outreach programme, to give much needed advice and support to young people across the county.

“This time of year is when the van would get used the most, as during the summer it would usually go to community events as well as enabling the outreach work to happen.

“While we’ll be looking to see whether we can continue to do some outreach work without the vehicle, the loss of the van will make it significantly harder to do so.”

The theft of the van, which is worth about £30,000 new, is believed to have been stolen between  Wednesday, July 22 and Thursday, July 23.

A volunteer streetwork team had been due to go out in Brentwood once a fortnight, starting on Friday but this had to be cancelled following the theft.

Chris Pegley, senior project worker at The Children’s Society in the East of England, said: “We are a charity trying to do important work with young people and we’ve been prevented from doing this by other people’s inconsideration and greed.

"I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into putting this information unit together and it’s extremely frustrating that we aren’t able to go out and do street work anymore.

"We have been prevented from doing what we do best.”

The group have now started a Crowdfunder campaign to raise money to replace the contents of the van, which included educational drugs boxes, a gazebo, tables, chairs and sporting equipment.

Anyone with any information about the van, which has charity logos and the number plate AU58 BKX, should call Essex Police by calling 101.

To donate visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-us-replace-the-contents-of-our-van