An Edmonton man has a warning for other vehicle owners after the wheels were stolen off his car.
The first went missing in early February.
“We came down to actually take the car to a dealership to buy a new car and one of the tires, I believe it was the driver side rear, just gone,” said Kris Wells.
He said they put a donut on so they could still drive it, but two weeks later, the tire thieves struck again.
But, Wells said, when they undid the lug nuts the car dropped and the tire wedged underneath.
“So that one’s our tire. Thankfully we still have it,” he said.
“We were parked next to a Jaguar the night that the first tire went missing, there’s plenty of nice cars in here, so my theory is they were looking for a specific size – and bingo,” he added.
Wells said, over the course of four or five weeks, all four tires were taken.
“The fact that they came back for the full set is crazy,” said Wells. “They’re bald, years old all-season tires, they’re not good tires.”
“There’s a lot of good cars here, why the 2009 hatchback?”
Edmonton Police were not able to tell CTV News exactly how many wheels have been stolen off cars throughout the city, but on social media, several people have posted about similar thefts.
“It’s not new,” said Robert Mcmaster, owner of The Wheel Clinic, “People want nice things that they can’t afford and they’ll go take it off someone who has them.”
Mcmaster said people can buy locking wheel nuts but it likely won’t prevent theft, just slow thieves down.
“I truly think if a thief wants to take your wheels, they will take your wheels,” said Mcmaster.
“Sorry. I don’t have any tips or tricks, just good luck,” he said.
“It’s embarrassing,” said Wells, “Everytime we come out to take things out of this car, people are walking by and staring.”
Wells is frustrated by the thefts, but without any surveillance cameras or witnesses, he is trying to see some humour in the situation.
“We’ve scored a couple jacks on the four times they’ve been back,” he said.
Fortunately for Wells, his car was damaged after being hit by another vehicle before the thefts started and the insurance company wrote it off.
“Unfortunately now it’s the insurance’s problem because now they’re going to have to come and tow this out and it’s missing all of its tires,” he said.
He does have a new car, with a dash cam installed that he hopes will help deter thieves in the future.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha
