Mechanic losing half his earnings because thieves keep pillaging his customers’ cars

Mike Caines said he was taking eight cars a day, but now he can only take on half due to thefts

Mechanic losing half his earnings because thieves keep pillaging his customers’ cars
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Due to frequent customer car break-ins outside his shop, a mechanic is losing half of his earnings. People breaking into cars outside Mike Caines’ garage have now targeted him three times in less than a week. Mike Caines owns Prime Vehicle Recovery and Repairs on Constance Street in Newport.

The first incidence happened at 4.25 a.m. on August 2; the second one happened at 4.50 a.m. on August 3; and the third event happened on August 9. Mike explained to WalesOnline that the break-ins had forced him to take on less jobs.

A person in a hood and mask riding a bike up to a black BMW outside the garage and opening the car door is plainly seen on CCTV footage of the first incident. Mike claims that when he left the facility the previous evening, all of the cars were locked.

“I checked all the cars each night and all the cars were locked, but when they come up to it on the CCTV the cars are clearly open and don’t take any effort to open,” Mike commented. “I don’t know if they’ve come around at some point in the night and unlocked it using a thing you can get online to interfere with the keys and the lock.

“We used to get vehicles dropped off by recovery throughout the afternoon and evening and they used to just post the key. Now I can’t allow that to happen because I can’t risk them being broken into. I can’t be left responsible.

“I’ve had to put signs up now saying I can’t be held responsible. As much as I don’t want to do that, I’ve got to do it. All we can do is lock the cars. So we’ve stopped taking on half the work because I don’t want the cars here overnight.

“On the third time it happened again to my van but I just noticed everything was pulled out of it. I don’t keep anything valuable in the van so I didn’t report that one to the police. But one of the cars that they broke into had a laptop in there. Oddly they didn’t take the laptop and just yanked the ashtray off and stole the change. They went through the car, the boot, the doors, everything, not even fazed by the cars driving past.”

In response to a recent rash of vehicle break-ins, Mike mentioned that, Gwent Police recently visited him and other residents in the neighbourhood and warned them to be vigilant. The majority of the claims appear to be from the St Julians neighbourhood, and several seem to have occurred early in the morning.

The police reported that between 1.10am and 3am on Sunday, August 6, they got three reports of vehicle break-ins at Orchard Street, Denbigh Road, and Summerhill Avenue. Similar to Mike, some locals claimed the thieves just took a little amount of stray change and left the vehicles in a chaotic state.

Mike continued: “So many people are having the same problem around here. It’s happening everywhere. It’s the damage they’re causing when they’re going through the vehicles too. It’s then costing me to fix what they’re damaging.

“We were taking seven or eight cars a day and now I’m taking four. I’m just taking on the vehicles that turn up in the morning and can be in the workshop and that’s it then. I can’t risk it anymore. It’s costing me a fortune, I’m losing money because I’m not taking the work on, but it’s making me look bad when customers are having their cars back and I’m having to say ‘Look, this has happened.’”

In order to effectively secure their vehicles, Gwent Police Chief Superintendent Carl Williams encouraged drivers to utilise mechanical steering locks, driveway posts, wheel clamps, and trackers. Additionally, he begged car owners not to keep any valuables in their cars when they are not using them.

Source and Quotes WalesOnline

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