A used car dealer discovered that 15 vehicles had been stolen from his business as he celebrated the arrival of his child in hospital.

Marc Scott, boss of MPS Motors in Hunslet, Leeds, told the Yorkshire Evening Post that he was “about to cut the chord” following the arrival of his child when he got a call to say the raid had been carried out.

CCTV footage of the incident show two men break into the dealership’s office before spotting the car keys.

A further five men then arrived on the scene and assisted them in driving the vehicles away.

Scott described the incident as a “horrible coincidence” as he does not normally leave keys in the business’ office overnight.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “As I left in a hurry I asked a colleague to take them home, and unfortunately he forgot to.”

A Volvo V60, BMW 3 Series and Volkswagen Passat were among the stolen cars.

Several cars taken in the raid had already been sold to new owners who had paid deposits for them, so Scott has been faced with having to refund customers.

He said that the gang took all the paperwork belonging to the vehicles along with keys to a further 15 cars.

He said that he let the tyres down and remove the valves to stop those being taken.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that they were investigating the thefts.