LOOTERS who targeted vehicles abandoned in the snow have been described as "cowards" by a resident.
An Ocado delivery van, a three-and-a-half-tonne lorry containing furniture and several cars were broken into after they were stranded in White Down Lane, Abinger.
The vehicles got stuck on the steep hill during snowfall on Friday and were ransacked by thieves some time before 7am on Monday.
Effingham resident James Nicholls notified police after he discovered the scene.
The former Effingham parish councillor told the Advertiser: "On Friday I was coming home in the snow and because I know how treacherous that road is I decided to park up and have a walk down there to see if somebody needed help.
"I came across a massive three-and-a-half-tonne lorry that had crashed into the bank and blocked off the road completely. There were various vehicles stuck behind it.
"The hill is so steep that once you are down, there is no way in hell you are getting back up in these conditions."
He added: "I went home before coming back on Monday to see if anything had been moved and saw that everything had been broken into and smashed to pieces."
Police confirmed several vehicles had been broken into and damaged, including a lorry containing a large quantity of bespoke oak furniture and a van full of groceries.
Mr Nicholls said: "This is the most cowardly type of theft someone can do because they are basically preying on the most vulnerable.
"It is a horrible crime where they are taking advantage of people at their weakest. They even stole the diesel out of the lorry, which shows you how low these people are."
He added: "When I was down there on the Friday I spoke to a couple of people who were leaving their cars behind and they admitted they had come down the road because they used a sat-nav.
"If you know the area then you know to avoid it in bad weather because it is so steep and relentless."
Mole Valley Neighbourhood Sergeant Simon Cox said: "The thieves would have spent quite some time at the scene in order to steal the items and I would appeal to anyone who saw anything suspicious in this area over the weekend to contact us with information.
"I would urge anyone who is offered either oak furniture or groceries at a knocked-down price to contact officers as those selling them may be responsible or connected to this theft and we need to catch them."
