A MERCEDES was stolen from Barnes Road in Bournemouth in the middle of the night after three men pulled up and used a key hacker to open the car.

Holly Love, 35, and her partner were awoken at 1am on August 23 after three men had gained access to their Mercedes C63 AMG.

Recognising the engine sound, both Holly and her partner rushed to stop the criminals who fled the scene and damaged the couple's other car while doing so. 

Holly said: "Our bedroom is above where the cars are parked and we sleep with the window open. As soon as I heard the engine start, I knew it was our car and we jumped up, looked out the window and they were about to drive off.

"The space they were reversing out of was quite tight. They smashed into my car and then just floored it."

Dropped off outside the property at 1am, the men were said to have been gone by three minutes past the hour and had used a device to gain a signal from the key. 

The police were called to the incident as soon as it happened but Holly claimed that the couple was told not enough officers were available, despite the car still able to be heard in neighbouring streets.

She said: "They used like a hoop that gets signal from the key in the house. He came right to the front room window and even though it's still quite a distance from where our keys are, they managed to get signal and unlock the door.

"As we were on the phone to 999, we could hear them ragging it around the road nearby. We said to police, if they've got someone spare, they're still nearby but they had no one to help us."

Mercedes has offered to help track the car via GPS but has said it needs an authorisation letter from police which won't be given until an officer is assigned to the case. 

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: "At 1.04am on Friday 23 August 2024, we received a report that a black Mercedes C63 had been stolen from the driveway of a property in Barnes Road in Bournemouth.

"Officers will be carrying out enquiries. No arrests made."