RESIDENTS in the Blueridge area are finding their tires punctured with nails or screws a little too often for it to be accidental, according to neighbours.
William Fairbairn found a nail driven into his tire a year-and-a-half ago and blamed it on driving through a construction site. But, in recent weeks, it seems his friends and neighbours are also frequent victims of what appears to be a deliberate M.O.
"BCAA came up to inflate the tires and the (technician) said 'All I do lately is come up to this area because so many people have nails or screws in their tires,'" Fairbairn said
As legendary James Bond villain Auric Goldfinger noted: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
BCAA could not confirm a trend or a spike - no pun intended - in the number of incidents in the area as their technicians only record the type of call they respond to, not the cause, according to Niela Melanio, BCAA's media specialist. Flat tire replacement requests go up in the wintertime, as tubes are more likely to burst or leak in low temperatures.
But there could be a trend of vandalism that has simply gone unnoticed, according to police.
"People should be calling the RCMP if they feel they've been targeted specifically in that neighbourhood," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
"If there's more than one or two, it's worth reporting it, and the police will investigate."
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