A man whose dumper was stolen and damaged has thanked “the power of social media” after he managed to retrieve it nearly 48 hours later.

Shane White and a colleague had left a Thwaites one-tonne skip loading dumper at their plant hire and groundworks on West Fen Road in Ely on Friday, June 19, before it disappeared the next morning.

He then posted an image of an identical dumper on Facebook on June 20, until someone got in touch.

“On the Sunday morning, a man from Wardy Hill rang me and said ‘my wife thinks she saw your digger on a trailer behind a Jeep heading towards Mepal,’” Shane said.

“I then put the CCTV shot of the truck and trailer on Facebook and within 30 minutes, I must have had 20-30 phone calls telling me where it was.”

Wisbech Standard: Shane White managed to retrieve his dumper, despite facing a potentially heavy repair bill.Shane White managed to retrieve his dumper, despite facing a potentially heavy repair bill. (Image: Shane White)

Shane later found the dumper in Manea on Sunday afternoon, and despite facing a potential repair bill of between £800-900, he could not be more grateful for the help.

“Only through the power of social media, I found it,” he said.

“From the bottom of my heart, many thanks to the people who helped me. Without that, the dumper would not be retrieved.”

A Cambridgeshire police spokesperson said no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.