A CHILDMINDERS van has been found just hours after being stolen thanks to the power of social media.

Sarah Kiernan, 41, owner of Little Stars Childcare, Sherwood, North Stifford, discovered her van was missing yesterday, after it was taken in the early hours of the morning.

She said CCTV caught three men drive up, get out, and steal the van.

She posted on Facebook about the incident and it was shared about 900 times.

The childminder was then contacted last night by a member of the public who had spotted it.

She said: "Amazingly at 10pm a lady sent me a message on Facebook to say she had seen my post on Facebook and thought she had seen my mini bus at the end of her street, in Glebe Road, Rainham.

"She checked and sent me a photo of it.

"I drove straight there and found it!

"They had cut through the steering wheel to remove the steering wheel lock, removed the panel beneath the steering wheel to get to the wires and lifted the panel with the drivers airbag in but beyond that the mini bus is pretty much as when they took it.

"The important thing is I have my mini bus back and I have a huge thank you to say to the people who shared my post on Facebook and more so to the lady who contacted me to say she had seen it."