A refrigerated vehicle carrying “nearly a tonne” of pies worth around £25,000 was stolen on Sunday night before it was meant to deliver the pastries to a Christmas market in York, according to chef and restaurateur Tommy Banks.

They included steak and ale pies, turkey and cranberry pies and butternut squash pies.

Mr Banks told the BBC: “The team are very gutted because it’s days and days of work gone. Vans get replaced on insurance but all that work and all those ingredients, just nicked.”

He added: “The thing that I’m gutted about especially is, what are they going to do with them, are they going to dump them somewhere? It’s just a real shame.”

In a video message, he appealed for the thieves to “do the right thing” and make sure the pies don’t go to waste.

He suggested that the thieves could donate the pies to a community centre or a charity so they can feed hungry people.

“I just think that’s 2,500 people we could feed and there’s a lot of people who could do with a hot meal right now,” he said.