Tyre centre owner vows to stay in business after theft

A Duleek garage and tyre centre owner declared his determination to keep his business open in the face of a break-in by thieves who wiped out his stock of tyres and valuable equipment last week. John Lenehan said his own future and that of three other employees would now depend on the attitude of his insurance company but he said: "I am determined to keep going. It won't be for the want of trying." When he opened up his tyre centre and garage at Downstown Road a week ago, he found that thieves had broken in and carried off almost his entire stock of tyres. He said four men had been seen on CCTV carrying out the break-in. He said they had taken almost everything from the "big garage" on the premises. In total, he estimated his losses at between €60,000-€70,000. Garage staff park a large lorry in front of the main gate every night but the thieves pushed that aside and drilled through the garage door to gain entry. They also disabled the electronic locking system. Mr Lenehan believes the thieves stayed in the building for some time. Among his losses, apart from tyres, were generators, compressors, tool boxes, barrels of oil and diesel, power washers, angle grinders and valeting equipment. He said the thieves had "cleaned me out" and he has had to resort to asking friends for the loan of equipment in order to keep his business going. "They put all the stuff into two of our vans. The vans were later found parked by the side of the road near Duleek," added Mr Lenehan. He said that it was hard to face the future in the days after the robbery. "We felt so disheartened by the whole thing but when I saw the help I got from friends and from other businesses in the area, I said we are going to get back on our feet," he said. There was a possibility that people would be offered some of his property for sale. "I am appealing to people not to buy anything second-hand or anything that is offered from the back of a van," he said. Gardai are investigating the incident. Gardai are also investigating a separate incident at the Esso garage at Carranstown between last Saturday night and Sunday morning. Thieves stole a ladder from a nearby premises and scaled the building in an unsuccessful attempt to gain entry. A van was also stolen from a house nearby but was later recovered. Gardai are studying CCTV images from the garage in an effort to identify the culprits.