A businessman has offered a £25,000 reward to help track down thieves who stole state-of-the-art equipment from his depot.
Steve Hoad, owner of industrial cleaning firm Hydro Cleansing, enlisted a private investigator after losing a £60,000 mini camera during a break-in last week.
The state-of-the-art technology is almost worthless without the central operating system it runs alongside, but is vital to the company's work.
The remotely controlled camera can be sent in to pipes and drains to discover which areas need cleaning.
Mr Hoad, who launched Hydro Cleansing in 2000, is so keen to get the equipment back he has tabled the sizeable bounty in return for any information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of the thieves.
It is thought three men were involved in the theft, which saw one of them scale a fence and break into a van to steal the camera from the firm's Beddington Farm Road depot at around 11:40pm on Tuesday, June 11.
Mr Hoad said: "The guys who operate the equipment have to do intensive training before they can use it. It is high-level stuff, the equivalent of five A-levels.
"This is not like a DVD player that you can plug in and use anywhere. It is worth about £30 in scrap without the stuff that goes with it."
Mr Hoad, who founded his company with just £800 and now employs 160 people, said: "It will take 17 weeks to replace this and I have either got to keep the driver on full pay, sitting around."
He hired a private investigator to look into the theft after becoming frustrated with the police investigation.
Steve Hoad with a vehicle from his fleet
A Met Police police spokesman said: "The three suspects are described as males. One was wearing dark clothing; a second was wearing a dark top, blue jeans and black trainers with white soles; a third was wearing a grey top and jeans.
"The investigation is continuing."
The serial numbers of the equipment are:
Supervision Large Crawler - Serial No. 505134
Supervision Small Crawler- Serial No. 5040148
Supervision Camera Head- Serial No. 5070213
Anyone with information is asked to call Hydro Cleansing on 07584171236 or 020 86893330 or email theft@hydro-cleansing.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here