'Do the right thing' - Tommy Banks' appeal to thieves who stole van containing 2,500 pies

Tommy runs the Black Swan at Oldstead in North Yorkshire, which has held a Michelin star for over a decade, and also runs a premium food box business called Made in Oldstead.

Speaking in a video on Instagram, the chef said a colleague went to pick up the van - which contained 2,500 pies - but found it had been stolen from the lock up.

The silver Fiat refridgerated van - which was plugged in when it was stolen - has not been seen since but as it contains thousands of pies with ‘Tommy Banks’ written on them, the chef thinks they will find it hard to get rid of them.

The 35-year-old has therefore appealed to the thieves’ Christmas spirit and urged them to drop the pies off somewhere so they can be eaten by those who will appreciate it most.

As his company and restaurants strive to be zero waste enterprises, he is desperate for the pies not to be thrown away.

Speaking in his post on Instagram, the Michelin-starred chef said: “Out there somewhere is our van and nearly a tonne of pies with my name written all over them somewhere in the North of England.

“It’s horrible being robbed. What I can’t get my head around these guys probably stole the van... but they probably didn’t bargain for nearly tonne of pies in the back of it.

“That’s about £25,000 worth of stock in the back of this van. They’re driving around with boxes of pies with my name written all over it.

“If you see this video, I know the pies are gone and I know you’ve nicked my van and we probably not getting it back, but you can’t do anything with these pies because they’ve got my name written all over them.

“Can you drop them off somewhere? Drop them off at a community centre or somewhere someone can eat them, someone who needs them can eat them. I know you’re a criminal but maybe just do something nice because it’s Christmas and maybe we could feed a few thousand people with these pies that you’ve stolen. Do the right thing.

“Also, if you’re out there and someone offers you some pies and it’s not me, they’re stolen so tell the police.”

The pies were the entire week’s stock for the Made at Oldstead stall at York Christmas Market, and Tommy and his staff are now facing a race against time to get new pies made in their place.

North Yorkshire Police has been informed of the theft. Anyone with information is asked to call 101.