A ‘sad’ slice of life: pizza trailer found gutted by thieves
It’s going to cost Tom’s House of Pizza a lot of dough to fix up its charity event trailer after it was gutted by thieves.
Tom’s owner John Windle said police found the portable pizzeria in a campground near Carstairs on Friday.
But Windle said the trailer will need several thousands of dollars in repairs, after thieves spray painted over the Tom’s logos, pulled copper wiring out of the trailer and damaged the pizza oven.
“It’s pretty sad. For the amount of copper they would have gotten out of that trailer . . . they wouldn’t have gotten very much money, but it’s going to cost thousands to put it together,” he said.
Windle built the trailer nearly 30 years ago to use at charity golf tournaments, serving Tom’s signature pies to golfers while they raised funds for various charities across southern Alberta.
But the trailer went missing last week after it was parked at the restaurant’s Okotoks location.
Employees last used the trailer Sept. 12 at the MS Golf Calgary charity event at Elbow Springs Golf Club, in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Of Canada.
The recent theft isn’t the first time the trailer has been abused, Windle said.
Over the years it has been vandalized multiple times while parked at the Tom’s on Macleod Trail, used as a dumpster by some inconsiderate Calgarians and a temporary apartment by a homeless person.
Const. Mike Hibbs with the Alberta RCMP said police are still investigating the theft, and no suspects have been identified.
Hibbs couldn’t confirm how the trailer was found, but Windle gave some of the credit to social media sleuths who shared his Twitter posts asking the public for leads.
“I’d really like just to thank all the media and the people on Facebook, it’s been phenomenal,” he said. “Even though it’s not in prefect shape, we’ve got a shell to work with.”
Windle said Tom’s will have the trailer mobile and ready for charity events next summer.