Ram raiders get… A taste of their own medicine

Taupō MP Louise Upston posted this picture taken on Monday afternoon showing glazier Glenn Philip making a start on repairs.

A Cambridge grandmother turned the tables on thieves – by ramming the ram-raiders.

And she has told the story to The News on condition she is not identified.

The 63-year-old Cambridge resident was making an early morning trip to the town centre on Monday for coffee when she saw one car rammed into the Spark shop in Victoria St and a getaway car in waiting.

She decided “it’s not happening” and made the snap decision to drive over the median strip – and ram the getaway car.

That prompted a mass exodus of thieves from the shop.

“They all came out of Spark like bees from a hive, yelling. I tried to reverse but couldn’t, so I hit the car hard again.”

Her memory at a time of potential danger is of one of the thieves, “a little guy” slipping around in his jandals and falling on the pavement.

“Builder’s crack – it was hilarious.”

The group of masked thieves dumped their booty and got back into the now damaged getaway car and sped off with a tyre smoking, chased at speed by the woman, who then recalled she didn’t have her cell phone because it had fallen down the side of the couch the night before.

She drove with horn blaring wondering why no one appeared to notice and after losing sight of the getaway car, returned to the Spark store to wait for police.

The woman recounted how amid the drama she had worried that her husband would be unimpressed at the damage she had caused to her car.

“He arrived and said it was worth it. I’m a grandmother and I work with youth; I do want people to know I’m not a vigilante.”

But she did admit to thinking at the end of the day over a wine that the group would not be boasting about their exploits on social media, having been “chased out of Cambridge by a nana.”

It is understood the youths were eventually tracked down as they tried to run away.

More Recent News

News in brief

Police appeal Police are appealing for information from the public following a fatal crash in the Waipa District on Saturday 18 October. Emergency services were notified of the crash on Te Pahu Road just after…

Arthur’s 50-year legacy

The Cambridge Blind and Low Vision Support Group has celebrated 50 years spent providing support for those who struggle in a world set up for the fully sighted. The gathering at the Sir Don Rowlands…

Trilogy launched

The story of Le Quesnoy’s liberation via ladder and its connection to Cambridge makes for compelling reading, and a new book written by a New Plymouth chartered accountant and historical fiction fan Tania Roberts breathes…

Sisters and goats succeed

The Neilson-Smith sisters have had a busy few months proudly showing their goats in agricultural competitions across Waipā and the Waikato – and learning plenty about responsibility along the way. Pāterangi School students Erika, 11,…