Up for sale luxury coach stolen from depot

Thieves stole a bus from a bus company depot on Sunday night or the early hours of Monday

The twelve metre long bus was stolen from the depot in Amstetten.

Police believe the thieves have already left the country with the bus.

The luxury 52-seater tour bus made by the company Setra has an estimated value of 135,000 Euros and was up for sale.

A worker noticed the bus was missing when an interested buyer called up about the bus and asked if it had already been sold.

The company boss Gerhard Kratschmar said: “One of the workers  called me and asked if the bus had been sold. I said no and told him it was in the depot and to have a look. I thought maybe someone had moved it into another position. I then went to look myself and saw the bus had indeed gone.

It is now known how thieves started and made off with the bus which also did not have number plates.

The thieves did not leave any traces.

But local policeman Andreas Kronsteiner said: “The bus was up for sale. There were two interested parties who also took test drives with the bus. This is one of the areas of investigation. Also there could by similarities with two bus thefts in Vienna last year. We are investigating.”

Police are studying CCTV motorway footage for clues to see whether they can find the bus on camera.