A pre-school has fallen victim to callous thieves who broke in overnight.

Staff at the Clayton-le-Moors Preschool, which is based at the Civic Hall on Pickup Street, arrived in the morning to discover some damage to a door and their petty cash missing.

Rachel Smalley, preschool deputy manager, said: “We’re unsure of how they got in, we share the building but I noticed some slight damage on the main access door. They’ve taken the petty cash, which is probably around £50-70 but nothing else is missing.

“It’s not nice, I came here this morning with my children and they were petrified”

They say the preschool is not run for profit and relies on donations so any theft of cash is a big loss to them.

Lancashire police confirmed they were called at around 9am this morning and are investigating the incident.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call on 01772 614 444 quoting incident number 0287 dated January 18