A woman who had her roadside café building stolen has started trading again from the same site.

Michelle Palmer’s business and livelihood was left in ruins when thieves are thought to have used a lorry and crane to take the converted cabin from a Keighley lay-by.

But she is determined to keep the site, in Halifax Road, Cross Roads, and to earn a wage in time for Christmas by trading from a trailer she had used when she first started her catering firm.

She has to borrow equipment to fit out the van so she can get back to earning a living.

She said: “I started up in it about four years ago and I got the portable cabin last year but the boiler and the griddle had come out of this van so it was just a shell.

“I have had to borrow a boiler and a griddle from people I know and I have gone back out.”

Miss Palmer, 25, said custom had initially been slow but she hoped it would pick up again once her regulars realised she was back in business.

She said: “I have had a couple of customers but I think a lot of people are thinking ‘it has been stolen so she won’t be there’.

“I’m just trying to get some sort of money to cover my mortgage and living costs, otherwise I’m going to lose the house as well. If I stay at home and think it’s going to be found next week then I could be doing that for weeks.”

Miss Palmer stopped using the van due to safety concerns and because customers had to stand out in the rain.

She said she hopes to have a new portable building for the New Year after a Bradford company offered her one at a low cost. Police have continued to appeal for information on the theft of the café.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said officers had investigated several lines of inquiry, including some CCTV footage.

He said: “The Bingley Neighbourhood Policing Team are continuing to investigate the theft of a roadside café overnight between November 18 and 19.

“Officers have pursued several lines of inquiry regarding the theft and have also reviewed available CCTV footage to see if it could provide any positive leads.

“The team continues to appeal for information and would like to speak to anyone who saw suspicious activity near Cross Roads on the night the café was taken.”

Anyone with information should contact PC Cath Gallimore at the Bingley Neighbourhood Policing Team on 0845 6060606.