By Brendan Rees
A quick morning coffee run at a Lynbrook servo has left a group of unsuspecting tradies gutted after their ute and trailer were stolen.
A cunning thief took off with the practically brand new Nissan Navara and attached trailer while it was left unattended at a 7-Eleven servo on South Gippsland Highway on Tuesday morning, 3 March.
Landscaper Jackson Philpin said he and his boss and another co-worker had dropped into the store to get a coffee about 7.10am when they were approached by a customer who told them about the theft.
“We ran out pretty quick to go have a look and he was long gone,” Mr Philpin said.
He said his boss, who owned the ute and trailer, had unknowingly dropped his keys after parking next to a bowser.
Mr Philpin explained the customer in the store had asked them: “Is that your ute trailer out the front?”
“My boss just assumed that he was just asking for work or something like that.
“He goes ‘someone’s just jumped in and f—-n pinched it.’
Mr Philpin said they confirmed the theft after viewing the store’s CCTV which showed a man about 25-years-old wearing shorts and hoodie and hat who had jumped in the ute and drove off.
All three workers had been left “stunned” as the servo was busy at the time with about 10 people in the store.
Mr Philpin said they didn’t spot the culprit who they believed “must’ve been hiding,” and “waiting for the right moment”.
The loss meant they had to cancel their day’s work and possibly for the next few days until they recovered at least the trailer which contained thousands of dollars’ worth of tools.
He said every tool “down to that last nail” was in the trailer including timber sleepers, wheel barrows, shovels, power tools and more.
The ute was barley three weeks old while the trailer had been bought about two weeks ago.
The silver utility, has registration 1QY8KW and the attached 10×5 trailer has registration Z86 560.
Both have signage stickers including ‘D C A Construction and landscaping’.
Anyone with information are urged to call the victim on 0431 344 233 or 0413 826 698.
Police have also urged anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
