Residents at a Burnaby seniors home have been grounded after thieves made off with their bus's catalytic converter last weekend.
Seniors at the Swedish Canadian Assisted Living Residence on Halifax Street were ready to go on a scenic drive to Pitt Lake on Wednesday morning when general manager Tyson Ashford had to break the news the trip was cancelled because their bus was missing its catalytic converter.
"The bus driver got in it and started it up and it sounded terrible," Ashford told the NOW about how the theft was discovered.
Security video later revealed the thieves had hit during the long weekend, at about 4:40 a.m. on Saturday.
"What we can see is somebody pulled up kind of beside the bus, and then you can hear the grinding with the grinder because there was audio," Ashford said of the video footage.
The non-profit that runs the Fraser Health funded assisted living facility will "be OK" financially because of insurance, Ashford said, but the loss of the bus for even a short time is a blow to residents.
The bus regularly takes them on shopping trips, scenic tours, picnics and other outings.
A scheduled shopping trip to Walmart Thursday also had to be cancelled because of the theft.
"A lot of the time, for most of them, it's their only opportunity to really get out of the building," Ashford said. "That's why it was so important that we managed to raise enough money to get a bus."
Ashford, who lives in the area, is also concerned about an uptick in property crime in the neighbourhood generally.
"It just seems like it’s getting worse and worse," he said.
Burnaby RCMP has confirmed it is investigating the theft.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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