Pinchbeck garage owner warning others after theft

The owner of a Pinchbeck garage is warning others to step up security after a theft from his business left him out of pocket.

Ian Merrill, of Motortech on Milestone Lane, was left shocked on Thursday when a customer discovered a serious problem with their car shortly after leaving the garage.

However, on inspecting the car, it turned out the problem was much more worrying.

Ian said: “The customer came to pick the car up and within ten minutes they were back and the exhaust was blowing.

“We had a look underneath the car and the diesel particulate filter (DPF) had disappeared.

“Luckily they were all right about it, but it’s going to cost me about £600 to rectify.”

The DPF is a filter that captures and stores exhaust soot in order to reduce emissions from diesel cars which, if tampered with, can lead to serious problems for cars.

It is also illegal for car owners to remove a car’s DPF. Owners face fines of up to £1,000 for cars and £2,500 for vans if caught.

Ian, who has been running the
garage for ten years, checked the CCTV at the garage but unfortunately the incident happened just out of shot.

He has now installed some more cameras in a bid to boost security and hopes that others will do the same.

He said: “This isn’t the first time something has happened.

“I noticed a couple of days before this incident that it looked as though someone had attempted to strip another DPF off one of the other cars in the yard.

“They had given up – and the DPF was still there – but you could see they’d had a go.

“The yard is easy to get into – and we can’t have all of the cars in the workshop as there’s not enough room – so we have put some extra cameras up now.

“I just want to let everyone else know about this so that they can be aware of what’s going on and make sure they are safe.”

Ian said that this isn’t the first time the garage has been subjected to an
incident like this.

He said: “On New Year’s Eve four years ago someone tried to break in.

“They got all of the locks off outside but luckily a mate was inside, as he was staying overnight in his camper van, and he had locked the workshop from inside.

“It’s a worry but we have got the extra cameras now to try and stop it happening again.”