LONDON (AP) — A British chef’s appeal for thieves to return 2,500 pies that were in a stolen van ended in disappointment Tuesday when police found the abandoned vehicle, along with its cargo tasty too damaged to eat.

Tommy Banks, owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants and a pub in the northern English county of Yorkshire, said a member of staff discovered the van was missing, along with its cargo of pies. steak and beer, turkey and butternut squash for Christmas. York City Market. The food was valued at 25,000 pounds ($32,000).

Banks said the van was insured, but he implored the vehicle’s thieves not to let the food go to waste. In an Instagram video, he suggested they “do the right thing” and drop off the pies at a community center or other location.

In an update, Banks said police found the van, badly damaged and with stolen number plates, in Middlesbrough, around 50km from where it was taken. He said the pies were still inside but were damaged and should be thrown out.

“It’s such a waste. It’s just rubbish,” Banks said in an Instagram video. “Sorry, that’s not a happier ending to this story.”

The pie theft is the latest theft of artisan edibles to rock the UK food trade. In October, nearly 1,000 cloth-wrapped wheels of artisan cheddar weighing 22 metric tons (48,488 pounds) and valued at 300,000 pounds ($390,000) were stolen from Neal’s Yard dairy in London by a scammer posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer.

Despite a hunt led by British and international police – and a call from TV chef Jamie Oliver — the cheese was not found. A 63-year-old man was arrested and questioned by police, but has not been charged.