A Fairlight gardener has been robbed of vital tools after thefts from the back of his van in the village at 6.30pm on Wednesday July 17. Tristan Foster-Collins, the owner of Handy Works, says he can’t believe how the tools were taken from him right under his nose was just as his new business was becoming successful.
“In 2023 the company that I had run with my father for twenty years went into liquidation due to a few bad debtors. That summer I started Handy Works – handyman and gardening services – and business has gone well with most of my customers being in and around Fairlight.
“In that short time, I have become well-known in the village, so it came as a shock when on Wednesday I had a Dewalt hedge-cutter and Makita grass-strimmer stolen from the back of my van as it was parked in a drive on Rockmead Road in Fairlight. I was working right next to my van at the time and could not believe that anyone would be so brazen. My van was unlocked as I was moving tools to and from it throughout the day as I worked. I heard the sound of a door slam and saw a dark-coloured car at the end of the drive. As I went to investigate the car drove off. I found my van back door open so I looked in and immediately noticed that my hedge trimmer was missing.
“A lady with her dog was just walking by so I asked if she’d seen anyone near my van. She said yes and that they were taking out a grass strimmer and driving off in a dark BMW. I saw the car at the end of the road then looked again in my van and saw that my strimmer was also gone. I said to the lady that I’d just been robbed so I was going to chase them but by the time I’d reversed out of the drive the BMW had gone out of sight.
“Another witness who contacted me via the Fairlight Residents’ Facebook page said they’d seen a black BMW driving at speed out of the village heading towards Pett Village, with a strimmer sticking out of the side window. They described a blonde woman driving with two children in the back. This is such bad example to set to those children!
“That week I worked for my customer for three days but the money I earned in those days was less than the cost of the items that were stolen from me. A kick like that makes life very difficult when you are working full-time running your own business while looking after three children half of the time which I do as a single dad.”
“If anyone is offered these tools at a knock-down price please contact the police as they may well be my tools.”
Image Credits: Tristan Foster-Collins .