By Brendan Rees
A tradie has been robbed of his livelihood after callous thieves allegedly took off with his excavator in Cranbourne North.
The 36-year-old is offering a $1000 reward after his excavator and trailer were stolen from Abrus Circuit on Tuesday 17 April.
Owner of Casey and Cardinia Landscaping Mathew Banks said he was gutted to find his trailer and excavator missing between 10am and 10.30am.
“It did have a trailer lock on it as well and obviously they just cut that off,” he said.
Mr Banks has been left to pick up the pieces, saying he relies heavily on his excavator.
“It pretty much gets used every second day,” he said.
“It’s a big loss. I’ve got about another six more months to pay it off.”
According to Mr Banks, the Takeuchi red and grey excavator and trailer are expensive, valued together at more than $52,000 and he is now require to hire the gear, which is costly.
“It kind of hurts the pocket,” he said.
“I do a lot of retaining walls, it’s got an auger bit on it to drill holes so can’t do those jobs.”
He says he also not insured for the excavator which was just over four years old.
“It was four months out of insurance because I moved and didn’t even think about ringing the insurance broker to change my address.”
Mr Banks said he door knocked neighbouring properties and located CCTV which shows a car driving off with his excavator in Abrus Circuit.
“It was a Holden Rodeo twin cab and it was like a grey/silver.”
He said the reward he was offering was for anyone with information leading to the arrest of those involved in the theft and the return of his excavator.
Cranbourne Police are investigating.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
