POLICE are today hunting for a man arrested on suspicion of stealing a lorry load of electrical goods from Felixstowe port – after he skipped bail.The 22-year-old man was given police bail pending further investigations after he was arrested when the truck he was driving crashed into a council-owned garage while being chased.

POLICE are today hunting for a man arrested on suspicion of stealing a lorry load of electrical goods from Felixstowe port – after he skipped bail.

The 22-year-old man was given police bail pending further investigations after he was arrested when the truck he was driving crashed into a council-owned garage while being chased.

Police had followed the juggernaut from Felixstowe port through Suffolk and Essex, along the A14 and A12, before the accident at Romford.

They failed to stop the lorry – carrying around £60,000 worth of microwave ovens – and it collided with the garage, owned by Havering Council.

The driver, who comes from the Harold Hill area of Essex, was brought back to Felixstowe to be questioned about the incident and was released on police bail.

He was due to return to meet officers again on September 24 to either have his bail extended, be charged or released from his bail.

But police said today that he had failed to answer his bail. A spokeswoman said further investigations were now being made and all efforts were being made to track down the suspect.

The alleged theft happened on Friday June 27. Police were alerted at about 11pm when portworkers became suspicious over the paperwork handed in to collect a container and its trailer.

A tractor unit brought to the port was hitched up to the trailer and preparations were being made to drive it away when the police were called.

The raid is one of a number of lorry thefts from the port complex and the haulage yards in the business parks just outside its boundaries this year.

Most lorry and container thefts around Felixstowe are carried out by professional gangs with final destinations already earmarked. Loads are then quickly split up into smaller consignments and distributed countrywide.

In the past year there has been a large number of thefts from the town including a container load of stereos worth nearly £200,000, shoes worth £50,000, Mothercare strollers, bed linen, crayons, wooden trays, beer, vodka and clothes.

The Road Haulage Association says more than £500m of trucks and goods are stolen each year with more than 3,000 loads never recovered.