TWO hefty letterpresses were stolen from an old bus depot where they were being stored for a community project.

Colchester Makerspace is a shared workspace in Trinity Street for people specialising in ceramics, textiles and printmaking.

The group had been storing two letterpresses, otherwise known as printing presses, at the old bus depot in Queen Street.

They went to move the presses on Monday, but realised they were gone.

Marc De Ath, from Colchester Makerspace, said: “They have been there for about a year, they were tucked away.

“We went in to move them, it would have needed four guys and some specialist equipment.

“We went in with the council zone warden but they weren’t there.”

The machines weigh a couple of tonnes each.

Marc said: “They are very heavy, they were both donated to us.

“Often you get printer companies shutting down and these machines are hard to dispose of so they get passed down.”

The presses usually sell for £1,500 each. It is believed the Solden and Cropper presses were dismantled to be sold for scrap.

The incident is being reported to police although it is not known what day the presses were stolen.

A crowdfunding campaign has been set up to raise extra funds. Visit www.spacehive.com/colchestermakerspace#/costs.

Anyone with information should report it to police on 101.