A group of mums on the village school run have been praised after they barricaded in two suspected thieves with their cars until police arrived.
Tracey Lumley, 33, led the blockade after seeing the pair stealing scrap lead from a garden and loading it into a Ford Transit van.
A woman who owns a roofing business, was standing nearby “teary and in shock” and told her she was “being robbed”.
Tracey, a mum-of-four who had just dropped off her children, swung into action and reverse-parked right in front of the van.
Another mother realised what was going on and parked her car by the side of the vehicle so it could not drive off.
Other mums then joined in and confronted the shocked crooks outside Horrabridge Community Primary School in Devon.
The women kept the suspects at bay for 15 minutes and gave them a piece of their minds until police arrived on the scene on Monday morning.
Two men aged 31 and 28, from Birmingham were arrested on suspicion of theft.
Tracey said: “I don’t think I’ve done anything out the ordinary. I don’t like seeing people stuck on their own so I’ve done what was best for the situation really.
“They had been stealing around the area last week, and I was on the way home and I could see this lady quite shook up and stressed out.
“I thought someone had been hit so I put the window down to see if she is ok, and she said they are robbing from my garden.
“I said I would block them in, and parked my car in front so they can’t drive off.
“Another mum pulled up on side so they couldn’t get out at all.
“They were stuck standing on the pavement while we all told them what we thought of them.
“I said: ‘What do you think you’re doing? You can’t go on taking things from people’s gardens’.
“They didn’t speak much English but one of them was trying to say they had done nothing wrong in their culture.
“We told them in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t our culture.
“He didn’t gob off or anything – I think he was shocked at being challenged by a female, to be honest.”
She added: “They didn’t actually give us any aggro in the end. I think they were just taken aback.
“It could have been dangerous but in the moment you don’t think about it.
“My children were at school, I had already dropped them off. I would have made sure my kids were ok if they were in the car, anything could have happened in hindsight.”
Tracey, who is studying social work at Plymouth University, said she didn’t feel like a hero – but just did what she said needed to be done.
She said: “The adrenaline kicked in. I didn’t think about it really.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a hero. What I have done is what I would hope someone would do if I was in need.
“Fortunately it resulted in two people being arrested
“There was no way they would be able to drive away, with my personality I’m not phased by that sort of thing so to me it wasn’t out the ordinary.
“I just helped someone out who was in need.
Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Several mothers on their way back from school stood and would not let the offenders leave the scene.
“We would thank the public for their assistance with this matter.
“They were all very professional and calm in the way that they dealt with the incident.”
