VANDALS are quite literally in the focus of Carwash 2380 owner Simon Gainsford after his Gunnedah business was attacked two weeks ago.
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The carwash, located in Tempest Street, was vandalised by three people in the early hours of October 25, but little did they realise, the business is no easy target.
“We have 11 cameras on site which allowed us to catch footage of the offenders vandalising our equipment,” Mr Gainsford said.
The cameras picked up most of the action, with the offenders caught on video for almost all of the six minutes it took to cause more than $4000 damage.
Mr Gainsford provided video footage from the incident to Gunnedah Police, who are in the process of tracing the offenders, however they are now calling on the public for help identifying the culprits.
All three offenders were male, of medium build, and aged between 16 to 30 years.
One male was pictured wearing a red hoodie, with black writing on the front, blue two-tone quicksilver 3/4 length shorts and most tellingly, a large snake-like tattoo on his outer calf or lower leg.
The second male was wearing a blue hoodie, with khaki pants and white sneakers and the third male was in a grey hoodie with blue pants and white sneakers.
The three offenders entered the site at 2am and attempted to gain entry to the main change machine and the auto entry unit. They also vandalised a vending machine, which will need to be replaced.
They then attempted to break into the main plant room and damaged a vacuum unit on their way off the site.
No money was stolen but more than $4000 worth of damage was done to the carwash equipment.
“We will now have to replace some of the gear, which was only 12 months old,” Mr Gainsford said.
“We had spare parts, so the car wash was back up and running the next morning, but alone, the note readers cost more than $600 each.
“Police have been trying to identify the offenders and we are now appealing to the public to see if they can help us as well,” he said.
Mr Gainsford wants to send a clear message to vandals that increased security on the premises will mean any future offenders will be caught.
“We don’t want it to happen again and we want to send a message to everyone that we won’t tolerate it.
“At our expense, we will increase the number of cameras we have on site and we will add some more lighting so that vandals will be seen.”
Learning from the incident, Mr Gainsford has identified optimum locations for three further security cameras and one more light, while he is also considering permanent security fencing.
“Prevention is the better option for us, but would-be thieves and vandals should know, they will get caught,” Mr Gainsford said.