Thieves are targeting lorries in south Oxfordshire while the drivers are dozing.

Insp Ian Money, of Abingdon police, appealed for anyonewho had seen anything suspicious while travelling north or south along the A34 between Oxford and Didcot, usually in the evenings, to call police.

He said: “If you see goods being transferred from one vehicle to another, that usually wouldn’t happen because of the danger factor, ring 999.”

On January 23, at about 2.30am, a lorry driver reported that his air conditioning unit had been ripped off the side of the vehicle while it was pulled up in a layby near Milton.

Two days earlier, between 1.30am and 6.30am, two and a half pallets of shower gel was taken from a lorry in a layby near Sunningwell.

And in the early hours of January 16, five pallets of of Coca Cola were taken from a lorry near Didcot while the driver was asleep.

Two years ago, police launched Operation Hoist, to combat the problem. Police spokesman Claire Gourlay said: “We would remind lorry drivers if they need a break, to drive to the nearest service station or park their lorries in a well-lit public place.”