Hawick man’s car business suffers after losing gear worth £23,000 to thieves

Gear including industrial cleaning machines and a car-wrapping kit were taken from Border Car Wrap Studio in the town’s Mansfield Gardens industrial estate between 3pm on Saturday and 4pm the following day.

The thieves’ haul included a Karcher HDS 1000 pressure-washer, Karcher Puzzi 30/4E carpet cleaner, Fortador Pro Plus steam-cleaner, Steinel car-wrapping kit and paintless dent repair tools.

Roger Janiak, based at the industrial estate since November after over two years trading from the town’s Princes Street, is still managing to work but says the theft has had a severe impact on his business.

“I do car-wrapping and window-tinting, so that’s colour-changing of cars by wrapping vinyl,” he said.

“It’s something quite new in the Borders, and I’ve been very busy in lockdown.

“Not many places offer what I do, and I have customers often travel from afar as Edinburgh and Carlisle.

“I do ceramic cutting too, but at the moment I can’t offer some services because I don’t have the equipment after this theft.

“It was all professional stuff they took.

“I will just do what I can, though.”

Roger, 42, moved to Hawick 10 years ago from Poland, and says he had never had any worries about security until now.

He now hopes neighbouring security cameras will help police track down the culprits.

He added: “Mansfield Gardens is a very quiet area.

“I have been in this workshop since November and never had any complaints.

“I have very nice neighbours, and it’s all quite small workshops in that street.

“Police have taken video footage from my neighbour, so I hope that will help.

“I don’t know what I can say. I’ve been broken into, and I have never had a problem like this before.”

Police are appealing for witnesses or information.

Detective constable Andrew Forsyth, of Galashiels police station’s criminal investigation department, said: “We would like to speak to anyone who may have seen anything suspicious on the industrial estate between mid-afternoon on the Saturday and 4pm on the Sunday.

“In particular, we are keen to find out more about any vehicles that may have been in the area between 10.30pm and 10.45pm on Saturday, June 20.

“Also, if anyone has dashcam footage that could assist with our inquiries, please get in touch.”

Anyone with information is being asked to call Police Scotland on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, quoting incident number 2,909 of June 20.