Truck thefts, torching ‘soul destroying’

A DUNEDIN scaffolding business owner is collecting his thoughts after the ‘‘soul destroying’’ theft and burning of two of his trucks.

Police are investigating after a Green Island garage was broken into, two light commercial trucks were stolen and then gutted by fire at Smaills Beach early on Monday.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman Andrew Norris said the incident was being treated as suspicious.

The trucks belonged to Dunedin man Graham Ross as part of his scaffolding business.

The act was ‘‘soul destroying’’, he said.

‘‘I was up most of the night. I’m still a bit distraught, really.’’

Mr Ross had owned the business for just over a year, but had run a building business in the city for about 13 years.

The trucks were nearly fully loaded with equipment at the time of their theft, he said.

While he imagined he would get some insurance cover, he did not anticipate getting anywhere near what he had lost, he said.

‘‘I’ve gathered stuff over a number of years, and you don’t have receipts for secondhand stuff.’’

They were the only trucks he had for that business.

‘‘I’ve still got equipment. In the long term, it certainly isn’t on hold, but I’ve got to take stock and get reorganised.’’

Mr Norris said one St Kilda crew was called to the Smaills Beach car park at 1.23am on Monday. Two light commercial trucks were ‘‘fully involved’’ in a fire.

The crew extinguished the flames in about 15 minutes.