Car stripping at Gautrain station a rare event – Bombela
Bombela Concession Company have defended the level of security at its Gautrain Sandton Station, following a report that a vehicle was stripped while parked in the undercover parking on 21 August.
Kirshen Naidoo claims that his Toyota Fortuna was moved from level B1 to level B3 before being stripped.
“I parked the vehicle on level B1 at 10.05am and caught the train to the airport. Upon returning an hour and a half later, I found that my car was not where I had left it. I approached security and we searched the rest of the parking for the vehicle. On level B3 we saw a similar vehicle to mine in the far corner. When I got close I realised that it was mine.
“A security guard and myself ran towards the vehicle. At this point, a man got out of the car and into an awaiting Toyota Corolla and sped off.”
When Naidoo reached his vehicle he found that the car had been stripped. The dashboard, wiring, carpets and panels had been removed and the bonnet was open.
Security were unable to stop the suspects who damaged a boom to escape the scene.
Kelebogile Machaka, spokesperson for the Bombela Concession Company, said that the company had taken the incident very seriously. “Any incident of this nature on our premises is one too many,” said Machaka.
Machaka defended the security system of the station saying that crimes of any nature are extremely rare. “We have an extremely comprehensive and integrated security system which includes CCTV coverage as well as guards (amongst other measures).
“The efficacy of these measures is confirmed by the very low crime at our stations. In the last year we carried about 12 million train passengers and recorded only one incident when a passenger’s physical security was threatened. In the same period only about 20 incidents of property crime had been reported. These property crime incidents range from reported losses of mobile phones and personal effects to items reported stolen.” said Machaka.
Spokesperson for the Sandton police, Captain Kym Cloete, confirmed that the Gautrain Sandton Station was not a hotspot for crime.
She confirmed that Bombela had been co-operative with the police and had provided security footage.
“We checked the number plates of the getaway vehicle, which proved to be fake. The investigating officer believes that the suspects were possibly searching for a tracking device. Investigations are on-going,” said Cloete.
