Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Yarrawonga business owner Nathan Gibbins says his mechanic workshop has been hit twice in one week with his and customers cars stolen and damaged

Transcript

Yarrawonga business owner Nathan Gibbins says his mechanic workshop has been hit twice in one week with his and customers cars stolen and damaged · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Over the weekend we saw another wild weekend. There was
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: car thef's, there was ram raids, there was breakings. Now
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  Speaker 1: business owners are pretty fed up. I think it's safe
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  Speaker 1: to say they're questioning why they get up each day
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  Speaker 1: when it seems like nothing's changing. Now, one of those
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  Speaker 1: business owners who was hit last week joins me on
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  Speaker 1: the line right now. His name is Nathan Gibbons and
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  Speaker 1: he owns a mechanic workshop. Good morning to you, Nathan.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: How are you not too bad? Mate? Thanks so much
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  Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Nathan. What's been happening at
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  Speaker 1: your mechanic workshop out at Yarrawonga.
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  Speaker 2: So basic? Please? Not last week? Week before on Thursday,
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  Speaker 2: we got to work in the morning after a phone
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  Speaker 2: call from another mechanic down the road at about six
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  Speaker 2: thirty in the morning and our gate with on the
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  Speaker 2: on the road, you know half so someone to jump
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  Speaker 2: to the fans letting our dogs there, got in, smashed
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  Speaker 2: the ignition barrel out of it and drove it straight
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  Speaker 2: out the gate. So obviously we've had to fix the gate,
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  Speaker 2: find the dogs, fixed the fence. And then Tuesday morning
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  Speaker 2: and that day I had just gone out to Sampalms
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  Speaker 2: and started having first beer and I get a phone
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  Speaker 2: call from the police staying that once again, our fences
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  Speaker 2: have all been cut open and they'd stolen our work
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  Speaker 2: us and damaged multiple other cars, smash windows, attended to
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  Speaker 2: steal out of cars.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, you are joking. So how many times have
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  Speaker 1: you guys been hit?
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  Speaker 2: We've been hit. That's twice, so four days, two cars
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  Speaker 2: in four days. We're just sort of thankful that the
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  Speaker 2: second car was our personal car. You know, hard call
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  Speaker 2: and a customer to tell them that their car has
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  Speaker 2: been stolen. It feels quite embarrassing. But yeah, we've only
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  Speaker 2: been hit twice. But you know, we came to yesterday
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  Speaker 2: and a business down the road from us had the
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  Speaker 2: gate on the grounds have been smashed in, the keys
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  Speaker 2: have been stolen to cars. They stole cash, credit cards
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  Speaker 2: and then jump in one of their cars and drove
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  Speaker 2: it straight to the front gate.
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  Speaker 1: Oh mate, And you know, like you've said there, it's
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  Speaker 1: a hard call to make for you guys if it's
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  Speaker 1: one of the vehicles that you're fixing that gets stolen.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, like this is the thing, this is
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  Speaker 1: a situation we're in in the northern territory right now
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  Speaker 1: where this kind of thing's happening every bloody day.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's disgusting, it really is. Like something needs to happen.
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  Speaker 2: This government needs to grow a bit of a backbone
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  Speaker 2: and do something about it, because business owners that's set
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  Speaker 2: up with it, like we're up all night checking our
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  Speaker 2: security cameras, you know, losing sleep, come and work tired
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  Speaker 2: because we've been watching our cameras all night to make
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  Speaker 2: sure no one's in our yard or attacking out dogs
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  Speaker 2: that are here, or you know, wrecking people's cars. It's ridiculous,
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  Speaker 2: it truly is.
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  Speaker 1: Now tell me as well. Obviously you've got but what
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  Speaker 1: you've just said, then you know you're checking your security
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  Speaker 1: cameras at night, so you've got that security measure in place.
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  Speaker 1: You've also got dogs out there by the sounds of things.
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  Speaker 1: But last time they broke in, they actually let the
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  Speaker 1: dogs out.
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  Speaker 2: So we've had dogs here for ten years because ten
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  Speaker 2: years ago we got broken into, so we put dogs
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  Speaker 2: in the art. We've never had a drama. And then
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  Speaker 2: now they've just they don't really care that you've got
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  Speaker 2: dogs anymore. They just cut the fence open let them out.
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  Speaker 2: That was the first time. The second time they got in,
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  Speaker 2: they sort of pined them up in front of the
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  Speaker 2: workyard and just threw things that I'm through rocks at them,
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  Speaker 2: and we're throwing tools at them, and you know they're
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  Speaker 2: carrying knives and stuff, like, what are our dogs spoke
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  Speaker 2: to do against seven people with weapons? Oh well, one
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  Speaker 2: thing we want to come into work is one of
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  Speaker 2: our dogs has been killed. So it's a scary time.
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  Speaker 1: Really, it really is like that. I mean, that would
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  Speaker 1: be horrifying. That'd be an incredibly sad situation to be in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it would indeed.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, do you you must feel like you're sitting ducks?
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  Speaker 2: We do like to get hit twice in four days,
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  Speaker 2: just feel kind of silly. Lot. We've got to go
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  Speaker 2: through extreme measures at the moment to lock all the
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  Speaker 2: cars that can potentially be broken into instolen inside of
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  Speaker 2: our shed, which and then we've now barricaded all of
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  Speaker 2: the workshop doors and everything to stop them to even
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  Speaker 2: getting in. And it's just a waste of time, like
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  Speaker 2: we shouldn't have to do all of this, And everyone
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  Speaker 2: around this area feels the same. We all feel like
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  Speaker 2: at any minute we're going to get a phone call
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  Speaker 2: or we're going to see on our cameras that a
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  Speaker 2: car's in stolen or you know, they've been in our
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  Speaker 2: yard and they've smashed everything up again, and it's just
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  Speaker 2: it's ridiculous. It's a waste of time and it's a
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  Speaker 2: waste of money.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know you shouldn't have to feel like that.
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  Speaker 1: Yarrawonga is an area where it's an industrial precinct. You've
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  Speaker 1: got a lot of businesses out there. My family's got
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  Speaker 1: property there. My mum actually used to stay out at
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  Speaker 1: one of the caretakers residences out there, and it reached
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  Speaker 1: a point where she no longer felt safe out there.
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  Speaker 1: She ended up, you know, even though she's only in
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  Speaker 1: town once a month, she ended up renting out a
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  Speaker 1: unit in the city because she simply did not feel safe.
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  Speaker 1: Now that in itself, I just think when you've got
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  Speaker 1: businesses out there at Yarrawonga that are being continuously targeted
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  Speaker 1: by ram rags, you can't operate a business without worrying
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  Speaker 1: that you're going to have vehicles stolen. It's just not
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  Speaker 1: good enough.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's discussing and you know, we thought, you know,
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  Speaker 2: what do we doing do we stay here and trying
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  Speaker 2: to turn people from coming in, but then we're not
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  Speaker 2: sleep and you're staying here all night. If you try
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  Speaker 2: and go out there and confronting the possibility that you're
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  Speaker 2: going to get seriously injured. You know they've all got weapons.
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  Speaker 2: There's lots of them. If there's only two or three
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  Speaker 2: of us here, what are you going to do against five, six, seven,
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  Speaker 2: eight of them? And the big numbers of them. And
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  Speaker 2: they think it's funny. They're all laughing and joking. You
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  Speaker 2: can see them all having a great time in our yard.
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  Speaker 2: They're throwing stuff at the dogs, they're getting chased around.
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  Speaker 2: It's all a big game to them. It's ridiculous. Somewhere
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  Speaker 2: got to do something about it, and it needs to
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  Speaker 2: happen soon because it's just yeah, it's unacceptable. It's disgusting.
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  Speaker 1: It truly is. Mate. You've said what I think so
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  Speaker 1: many Territorians are feeling right now. I appreciate you coming
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  Speaker 1: on and having a chat with us. I know it's
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  Speaker 1: not easy as a business owner having to step out
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  Speaker 1: and speak about this stuff, but I think we've all
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  Speaker 1: got to make sure that we're doing it. The government
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  Speaker 1: needs to know that we are not accepting of what
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  Speaker 1: is going on in our homes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. This government seriously is It's just like, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they need to pull their finger out and do something
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  Speaker 2: about it. It's disgusting. Someone's going to do something bad.
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  Speaker 2: Someone's going to take action into their own hands, and
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  Speaker 2: something bad is going to happen, and that's the last
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  Speaker 2: thing we all want. But something needs to be done.
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  Speaker 2: This government's got the backbone of a jellyfish and they
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  Speaker 2: need to fix it, certainly do mate.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you having a chat with us this morning.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to hear what has happened to you, but
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you speaking to us today.
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  Speaker 2: Nathan, appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Datie, no worries at all.