Edge Hill servo manager speaks out after second break-in in two weeks
After being targeted by criminals for the second time in as many weeks, Edge Hill service station manager Wes Haddon has had enough.
Cairns
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After being targeted by criminals for the second time in as many weeks, Edge Hill service station manager Wes Haddon has had enough.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a group of alleged offenders rammed a vehicle into the front of the Edge Hill service station, stealing $1000 worth of tobacco products.
Mr Haddon said it was the second time in two weeks the servo had been broken into.
“About two-and-a-half weeks ago on a Tuesday morning, they threw a brick through the top window of the door and climbed in through that,” Mr Haddon said.
“(They) only got smokes.”
This time, Mr Haddon said three vehicles were involved in the robbery, however a nearby restaurant employee spooked the alleged offenders away.
“This happened about 3.30am, a van rammed that door and then three other cars pulled in, but ‘cause the chef next door started an hour early, he sorta spooked them,” he said.
“So they really only took maybe $1000 worth of smokes and done maybe $25,000 worth of damage because that (frontage) has all gotta go now.”
In addition to the extra costs to repair the damages, Mr Haddon said the business lost around six hours of valuable trade time due to forensic investigations and recovery.
“That could (cost) up to $20,000 by the time all the frame’s remade,” he said.
“Plus we lose three hours trading so that’s six hours of trade time we lost between the two break ins because you gotta wait for forensics.
“It’s cost us thousands now in three weeks and that 6am to 9am (trading period) is potentially our busiest hours. That’s $5000 to $6000 per shift.”
In addition to the store frontage, Mr Haddon said the roller door would require repairing and bollards would need to be installed.
“The roller door’s gotta go up which costs thousands of dollars, the bollards gotta go in which costs thousands of dollars, just to stop them from getting in to get $1000 worth of smokes,” he said.
Due to business closures through the Christmas period, Mr Haddon said the doors would be boarded with wood until glass operations resumed early next year.
“Now because it’s Christmas, they’re not making any of those fabrications so it’s now just boarded up, cut a hole, screw a door to it … I’m basically gonna have to bloody sleep inside the joint,” he said.
While he praised the police for tracking down offenders, Mr Haddon said crime in the area continued to worsen.
“NOA’s been broken into a couple times, the architect shop had the windows smashed the other week and The Friendly Grocer, they’ve had six cracks at him in the last four months,” he said.
“Not much the police can do, they try tacking them but there needs to be more punishment.”
Mr Haddon said he would like to see youth offenders put into a military-style boot camp to learn discipline.
“Instead of going to jail, put them in a full time boot camp like the army, they’re disciplined,” he said.
“They know what it’s all about. They’ll know how to bang it into them.”
Originally published as Edge Hill servo manager speaks out after second break-in in two weeks
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