By Callum Ludwig
The day you purchase your first car is a special one, thinking of all of the adventures and freedoms it will bring, with the expenses and maintenance far from the forefront of your mind at that moment.
Young Millgrove resident Bailey King’s Nissan Patrol is his pride and joy, but was recently stolen from out the front of his home on the night of Monday 2 January.
Bailey had just returned home from a trip to Eildon and was yet to fully unpack, meaning a lot of valuables were also still inside the car.
Mr King said he went to go to the shops the next morning only to discover his car was no longer on the nature strip.
“I have the only set of keys for it, no one else had done anything with it and the keys were still there so I knew that someone had stolen it. The last time I had seen it was at about 7pm the night before when I took the swag off the top of it because it was supposed to rain,” he said.
“There’s not many in that colour in the area, dark grey on the bottom half and black on the top half. It also has big tyres, a roof rack, spotties (spotlights), a front bar and sidesteps. Not many people have spotties in front of the roof racks on top of where the windscreen ends, there are four there, which is something a bit different about it.”
The car also could be identified by a five to six-inch curved crack in the windscreen behind the rearview mirror, a slightly smashed driver’s side mirror and some of the paint scratched off on the driver’s side and steps from four-wheel driving.
Mr King said the car means quite a lot to him.
“I saved up my own money and bought it after a long while, and have done quite a bit to the car. Nowadays I go out every weekend and if not every second weekend with it. I love taking it out into the bush and into nature, and I have a lot of memories with it already even if I haven’t had it for long,” he said.
“I did pretty much any odd job I could get for a bit of cash here and there, working weekends and working overtime as a chimney sweep and wood heater installer quite hard and really budgeted to get the car.”
Mr King is the oldest of four children in the house at 19 years old and has taken on responsibilities as the ‘man of the house’ for a number of years. He has often been the one to help take his brothers to their sports and activities since he bought his car. He also contributes to household bills and the car was not insured for theft, meaning he is worried about how much he would have to save to replace his lost Patrol.
Bailey’s mum Melanie King said it’s not just the financial value of the car to Bailey, but the emotional value as well.
“That car already has a lot of sentimental value, a lot of memories made driving it as he learnt the ropes. It’s really unfortunate for a hardworking young bloke who is trying to try to help his family out, provide memories and give himself a little something, that he loses out,” she said.
“We’ve done a lot of family trips, taking his brothers out and his mum out, so it has impacted all of us. It was usually parked up right near the gate where we thought it was secure around here, but we know different now. We’ve learned a valuable lesson here.”
The number plate reads ATN-711. Anyone with information on where Mr King’s car may be is urged to contact the Warburton Police Station at (03) 5966 2006.
