Police believe would-be thieves who tried to steal an ATM from a supermarket used a stolen transit van in the raid.

The incident happened at the Co-op on Mart Road in Alford, Aberdeenshire, before 6.40am on Thursday morning.

The culprits failed to remove the wall-mounted ATM but damaged it in the process.

A white Ford Transit Connect they are believed to have used was stolen from a property in the Kildrummy, Alford. It was later found in Braemar.

Earlier this year, a gang of thieves who used explosive gas to blow up cash machines across the north east and made off with £130,000 were jailed for a total of 36 years.

Detective inspector Norman Stevenson said: "There has been well-publicised incidents in the north east in recent years whereby a number of ATMs were targeted.

"Although there are similarities in this case there is nothing to suggest from our enquiries so far that this attempt is linked to any previous incidents.

"It is clear a sustained effort was made to gain entry to the machine, however it was unsuccessful and the person - or persons - responsible left the scene empty-handed.

"In saying this it will obviously cause alarm within the local community and a great deal of inconvenience. I can provide every reassurance that we will use every resource available to us to detect those responsible and we are following several lines of enquiry."