POLICE are hunting for an attempted champagne thief after an incident at a supermarket in Thornbury this morning.

A man was reported to police by Tesco staff attempting to leave the store around 11.30am with a bottle of champagne which had not been paid for.

Upon being spotted, the individual left the bottle and fled in a silver Vauxhall Zafira with the registration GJ04 TVZ.

In an attempt to avoid identification, the offender ripped his rear licence plate from the car, before driving off.

PC Sean White said: “We are keen to locate this individual. Anyone with information that could lead to a positive identification should call 101 immediately.”