THIEVES managed to steal a 35 ft long skip full of copper from a Lytham car park on Friday night, without being seen.

Police believe offenders had a purpose built truck onto which they loaded the five tonne skip of scrap metal - worth a total of £5,500 - before driving off undercover of darkness.

The 15ft high red skip disappeared from the former Aegon site at South Park, Lytham, between 5pm on Friday (August 20) and 8.30am Saturday.

"They would have needed a specialist vehicle to break into the compound and get it," said a spokesman for Blackpool Police.

"We would urge anyone who saw anything unusual or a truck there at that time to get in touch with police at Lytham, quoting crime number AL 3841."

The theft was one of several recent crimes along the Fylde Coast for which police need witnesses.

In Staining, a double horse trailer was stolen from Smithy Lane by thieves who broke a pitch lock and wheel clamp off it before taking it away.

Detectives say the maroon coloured Ifor 505 trailer was taken from a front yard between 6pm Thursday and noon Friday.

"At the time it was stolen it bore the registration PE52 APF. It was valued at £2,500," said the police spokesman. He asked anyone with any information to contact police quoting crime number AL 3802.

Officers are also still trying to trace a multi-coloured Peugeot Speedfight motorbike, stolen from Lakeway, Blackpool, between 12.30am and 9.15am on Monday.

The bike, worth £2,000, registration Y938 XBV, was taken from outside the property. Witnesses should quote crime number AN 4006 when contacting police.

Two push bikes, together worth £280, were stolen from a house at Shipley Close, Bispham between 8.15pm and 8.45pm on Friday.

One bike was a pink and purple Emmelle with bull bars, and the other was black and white with a picture of a bumble bee.

And police are hunting a 15 stone man who stole six packets of cheese from the Co-op Late Shop on Layton Road, Blackpool, at 9.20pm on Sunday.

Witnesses said he was white, 25-30, 5ft 9ins, wearing a hooded Puffa jacket, dark tracksuit type trousers, a grey and blue tracksuit top and a white T-shirt. He had a weathered face, moustache and short, black hair. He may have been with a 22-year-old, slim, white woman, 5ft 6ins with thin features, dark brown hair, and dark clothes.

Detectives asked anyone with any information on any of the thefts to contact them on 01253 293933.