The ugly spectre of 4WD thefts has risen its ugly head, this time in the Ashburton area of the South Island.

Brenda Swanepoel has written to warn that the thieves seem to be looking for parts, and then torch the rest of the vehicle.

She writes: “Just wanted to ask you guys if you could maybe publish a story.
In our local Ashburton area a few 4x4s have been stolen, and my husband's truck was one of them today. They stole it at 12:30pm, yip, in the middle of the day.

“They took it down to the Ashburton River and stole off the 35inch Maxxis Bighorn tyres. We have just finished paying off the tyres, they are still brand new. And then they set the truck alight.  

“It's just really sad as my husband has been working on this truck for a long time, building it up from scratch. We don't even have insurance.  Every little cent we had spare we put into the truck, and we wanted to have it certified so that we can get it on the road and insured”