A retired Nelson resident has been left feeling “quite sad” at the prospect of having to get rid of his hobby beehives after his ute was stolen last week.
Ian Henbrey awoke last Thursday morning to find the parking spot outside his Shelbourne St house where his 1993 grey ford courier is usually parked, empty.
“I looked out the window and hello there’s a space there. I ran out there to have a look, and it wasn’t anywhere.”
Ian uses the flat deck, single cab ute to travel to Hira to check on his beehives, which he is now unable to get to.
A security camera at the front of his home captured the noise from the moment the thieves broke in and drove away around 4am last Thursday, but unfortunately it was parked just outside the video’s frame.
“It’s an old vehicle probably an easy thing to do,” he says. “I guess they hotwired it, or whatever these thieves do.”
“It’s been a great old truck, I’ve well maintained it and it has a warrant and registration.”
He reckons the money from insurance will only amount to about $1500, not nearly enough to replace it and, being on a pension, he says he is unable to purchase something else.
“Its practical value and usefulness are well in excess of the monetary value. I can’t afford to replace it, which means I’m going to have to sell the beehives that are out country. If I can’t get out and look after them, they will deteriorate.
“It’s swarming season too, so I should be looking at them and making sure they’re not getting too big for their hives, they are a livestock of sorts, so they need tending.”
While there is another small car in the household, Ian says it’s not suitable for driving “out country”, nor for lugging around hives and boxes of honey.
Ian notified police and drove around searching for it to no avail.
He says it’s a distinctive vehicle, with the deck painted light grey to match the panels, with black trim and a white bonnet.
The number plate is NWG300, after the plates were stolen last year and had to be replaced.
“I had someone come along and steal the numberplate off the front of it, which seems like a strange thing to happen. You would think ‘oh my number plate has fallen off’, then I remembered during the night I heard a sound. At that stage the camera was facing the street. I could see someone, again at 4 in the morning, walk up and rip it off. I notified the police and they said they used the old plate to get up to mischief.”
Anyone who has seen Ian’s ute should contact police non-emergency at 105 and quote file number.
