THIEVES made a getaway with a trailer carrying £12,000 worth of biscuits from a Cwmbran factory which produces favourites including Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels on Wednesday – and dumped it about 160 miles away.

They raided the Burton’s Biscuit Company factory on Ty Coch Way at about 3.10am and the trailer was later found empty by police at junction 11 on the M62 in Warrington.

The company was unable to confirm the products stolen but a company spokeswoman confirmed the Torfaen factory produces Jammie Dodgers, Wagon Wheels, Mini Maryland Choc Chip Cookies and Cathedral City Baked Bites.

The company employs about 750 people at its Cwmbran factory, which opened in 1937. It has two other manufacturing facilities in Blackpool and Edinburgh, a chocolate refinery in Moreton on Merseyside and a central distribution hub in Liverpool.

Burton’s said the raid had been an “isolated incident” and that they were working closely with the police.

A spokesman for the manufacturer said: “Burton’s Biscuit Company can confirm that goods and a trailer were stolen from the Llantarnam factory during the early hours of Wednesday 17th June. This is an isolated incident and we’re currently working closely with South Wales Police in their on-going investigation of the theft.”

Llantarnam community councillor on Cwmbran Community Council, Cllr Paul Williams, who worked for Burton's from 1989 until 2000, said the theft was unprecedented.

He said the vehicles would have been secured by a tamper-proof seal before they were sent from the depot to their destination and whoever stole the vehicle must have known that.

“I can’t remember there being anything like it in 25 years,” Cllr Williams said.

The company invested £4.6 million into the factory, safeguarding jobs based there, in 2013.

The money was used to pay for a new control room. It was said to allow monitoring of its biscuit production and was thought to be the first in the biscuit industry.

Staff threatened to take strike action over a dispute over annual leave last month. The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (BFAWU) represents about 630 of its staff.

Under licence from Cadbury's, Burton's Biscuit Company produces its Caramel, Crunchie, Daily Milk, Fingers and Bourneville biscuits. It also makes Lyons’ products including Viscount, Toffypops and other Maryland lines. And it also runs its other lines for the Jammie Dodgers range, Choco Dodgers and Toffee Dodgers.

Anyone with information about Wednesday’s incident is asked to call Gwent Police on 101 and quote log number 348 17/06/15.