Thieves have managed to steal a long-awaited staycation road trip from a deserving Richmond family.
Melanie Arnis, her husband Brendan Coyle and their 32-year-old daughter Rhianna – who the couple care for – had been planning for weeks for their four-day camping trip to Nicola Lake, near Merritt, in the family’s 24-foot RV.
Coyle had spent many hours online trying to snatch a coveted camping site, while Arnis spent several days packing up the vehicle and preparing food for the trip.
They were all packed up in the RV in their Steveston driveway Monday morning, seatbelts on and ready to go when Coyle turned the key in the ignition.
“We looked at each other and said ‘we’re not going anywhere,’” Arnis told the Richmond News on Tuesday.
“The noise would have shook the house, that’s how we knew something was wrong. It was so loud.
“We thought it was the muffler and crawled under to take a look and that’s when we saw there was a section missing.
“They’d taken the catalytic convertor. It was very clean cut, a very professional job.”
The theft of catalytic convertors – for their precious metals – is becoming more widespread across the Lower Mainland, with many police forces reporting brazen incidents.
“We were angry, there was some crying. It’s very frustrating, all the work I’d put into making food,” said Arnis, adding that the family get free camping due to their caregiver status for their daughter.
“It’s a wonderful thing to have, as we have so many extra costs. This is the one family thing we can do.
“We go away every year. We were so excited. Trying to get a campground has been really difficult during the pandemic, but my husband managed to snag these four nights and the weather was supposed to be nice.”
Arnis said the theft must have happened sometime between Monday and 10 days prior, when the RV was last out on the road.
“We phoned some repair place but they said we needed to call the police, make an appointment for the repair and have the RV towed to the repair shop,” she added.
“The trip was over before it started.”
The family have made plans to head to the Island for a couple of nights, but at their own cost.
Arnis said the estimated replacement and repairs will be anything between $1,000 and $2,000.
“Of course, we lose our $300 deductible. And how do we stop it happening again? You can put a $300 protector plate on it, which is the same cost of the deductible,” she lamented.
The News has reached out to Richmond RCMP for comment and more details.
