Damage to the front of Patterson O’Connor Motorcycles on White St.
Damage to the front of Patterson O’Connor Motorcycles on White St.
A Rotorua motorcycle business has been ram-raided this morning for the fifth time in two years – and an owner says they are “over it.”
Bryan Patterson, co-director of Patterson O’Connor Motorcycles, said it was getting to the stage where it was not sustainable to run a businessthat kept being burgled and smashed.
“We’re spending more and more money to try and secure everything, but it just keeps happening,” Patterson said.
“This is our fifth time in two years, we’re over it, to be honest,” Patterson said.
Two bikes worth $20,000 were stolen when the store was ram-raided at about 1.30am.
“It’s an absolute shambles. I don’t know what the cost is but it’ll be huge,” said Patterson.
“You start thinking, is it worth carrying on a business with this happening all the time?”
The business was one of three Rotorua motorbike stockists hit in a series of break-ins in August. Police said at the time there had been an increase in bike store burglaries and anti-social riding around the city and they believed organised criminal gangs were responsible.
Patterson O’Connor Motorcycles on White St in August. Photo / Kelly Makiha
The store was open today and Patterson said customers had been stopping by and coming in to help with the clean-up.
He said it was going to be a long day on “no sleep”.
