Car set alight in shopping centre after designer clothes ram raid

A car was rammed through a glass shopping centre door then set it alight in a raid on a clothing shop.

Police are looking for four men involved in the break in at Almondvale Shopping Centre in Livingston in the early hours.

One suspect drove a Nissan Juke vehicle through a set of glass doors on the east side of the retail centre at about 00:15, allowing his masked accomplices to enter a shop.

Police Scotland said they stole "stole several rails of designer clothes"

The ram raid involved a black Nissan Juke and a white Audi S5, which approached an entrance near the Flannels and Marks and Spencer shops.

The men initially got out of the cars and smashed an external display window, but when they were unable to access the store one man got back in the Nissan and reversed it through a bollard and smashed two sets of glass doors.

All four men were then able to enter a shop and steal rails of designer clothing, which were loaded into the other vehicle.

One of the men set fire to the Nissan Juke returning to the Audi, which was driven "at speed" along the pathway towards the road and into Almondvale Road heading east, a police spokesperson said.

The Audi was later discovered on the outskirts of the nearby village of Dechmont with some of the stolen clothes still inside.

The value of the stolen clothing has not yet been established.

Police described the incident as a "carefully planned operation in which the four suspects had no thought for the safety of others at anytime".

Det Insp Lee Beaumont said: "The suspects were all wearing dark clothing with their faces covered and were armed with a variety of equipment to enable them to break-into the shopping centre and store within.

"It is vital that we trace the men responsible and I urge anyone who has seen the vehicles hanging around the area or has captured them on CCTV or dashcam to contact police immediately."