A construction company is foiling would-be thieves and raising money for charity by painting its plant vehicles bright pink.

After Hitchin-based Ashe Construction had two forklifts stolen from sites in the last six months, an employee came up with the novel idea of painting vehicles a conspicuous colour.

Bosses decided to spray a truck pink in support of the Breast Cancer Campaign’s ‘wear it pink’ scheme. They hope the forklift will help raise awareness and encourage people to donate money.

Ashe’s business development director, Andrew Morris, said: “We’re big supporters of a number of cancer charities with many members of our team having been affected by the disease in one way or another. This was a brilliant idea from a member of staff to help us increase our plant security and raise much needed money for an important charity.”

David Harte, sales director at Direct Plant Sales which supplies the company with its vehicles said: “The pink forklift has certainly stirred up interest. Whilst it was parked outside our showroom on the A6 in Northamptonshire, we received nearly 40 enquiries about it. It cost around �2k to spray the vehicle but if you compare that with the �43k it would take to replace a stolen one, it’s well worth the investment. It’s a really good idea and we’ve made a donation towards Ashe’s fundraising efforts.”

Theft of plant and machinery from construction sites is a growing problem. An estimated �1m worth of plant and equipment is stolen from construction sites across the UK each week.