A Doddington medical practice is furious after a nurse leaving work after a 10-hour shift found her car’s catalytic converter had been stolen.

And in March, mug shots of the men that stole a catalytic converter off a car are being widely circulated.

“They already had two in the boot,” said the daughter of the woman whose car was targeted.

“Let’s make them famous share far and wide.”

At the Fenland Group GP practice, staff reported a “rather sad end to the day.

“At 6pm after working a 10-hour day, one of our nurses got in to her car, started it and was greeted with a cacophony of noise.

“We quickly discovered that someone had stolen her catalytic converter, whilst her car was in our carpark at Doddington Surgery and in broad daylight.

“Now she cannot drive to work.”

The practice statement on their Facebook page wrote: “If anyone saw these heartless thieves, please contact the practice or the police.

“The car is a white Toyota Auris.

“Thefts like this are not victimless crimes, it costs us all through our insurance and hurts people like our patients who will now not be able to see the nurse, while her car is repaired.

“If you saw anything, please speak out, and the police may catch these people.”

Between June 2021 and the same month this year, Cambridgeshire Police say almost two catalytic converters have been targeted by thieves.

The force has also seen a 54 per cent increase in reported incidents over a three-year period, from 314 in 2019 and 470 in 2020 to 727 last year

The March victim’s daughter says they have two videos of the thieves removing the catalytic converter.

“On the other video I’ve got you can actually see they’ve already got two in the boot before they put my mum’ in,” she said.

“They even took the alloy heat shield as well.”

In Ely, one one night recently, at least four taxis all parked up for the night had their catalytic converters stolen from their cars.

The estimated cost for replacement is up to £1,000, depending on the car and model.

Catalytic converters are found in the exhaust system of every car and reduce the output of toxic gases and pollutants.

Stealing them has become popular because they are not easily identifiable and can be sold on for the precious metals found inside them.