Celebrity chef Tommy Banks is absolutely gutted after pie-snatching thieves nicked his van packed with 2,500 of his gourmet pies. The Michelin Star maestro behind The Black Swan in Oldstead, North Yorkshire, took to Instagram with a heartfelt plea for the return of his precious cargo.
The culinary wizard and familiar face from BBC's The Great British Menu was left reeling when he revealed on Monday: "We've been robbed." He shared the shocking news that his van, destined for York Christmas market, had been swiped, leaving him pie-less and appealing to the robbers' better nature.
In a candid video, Tommy said: "Good morning, I thought I would fill everyone in on this morning's dramas. We've been robbed."
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He continued with disbelief: "So, Matt has gone ... this morning to pick up the van full of pies for York Christmas market. Full van, 2,500 pies has been stolen from our unit, so out there somewhere is our van and nearly a tonne of pies with my name written all over them, somewhere in the north of England."
The chef expressed his dismay, adding: "So, yeh, a bit of a pain really, it's horrible being robbed. What I can't get my head round, these guys probably stole the van ... but probably didn't bargain for the nearly tonne of pies that is in the back of it. That's kind of sad. That's a lot of meat, a lot of flour and eggs, and a lot of work, like so much work. It's £25,000 worth of stock in the back of this van.", reports the Mirror.
"So I guess they probably will watch this video because they are driving round with boxes of pies with my name written all over it. So they might think who the hell is this guy who makes these pies.
"If you see this video. I know the pies have gone and I know you've nicked my van and I'm probably not getting it back. "But you can't do anything with these pies because they've got my name written all over them. So can you drop them off somewhere? Like drop them off at a community centre or somewhere and at least someone someone can eat them.
"I know you're a criminal but maybe do something nice because it's Christmas. And maybe we could feed a few thousand people with these pies that you've stolen." He also urged anyone who does see the pies to tell the police.
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