Man steals truck, returns it several days later with an apology note
Common courtesy and crime rarely go hand in hand, so a restaurant owner in Auckland, New Zealand, was understandably surprised when his stolen truck showed up largely undamaged outside of his business. The thief stayed anonymous but left a note and goodies in the back.
The pickup, a black first-generation Holden Colorado equipped with a roof rack-mounted tent, was stolen outside of an establishment called Kati Street on November 14, 2023, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. It sounds like the owner, Varun Chada, started his truck that evening, left it running while he ran back into his building to grab something he forgot, and walked out to an empty parking spot.
Kati Street asked its social media followers to keep an eye out for the truck but no one managed to track it down. Four days later, the Holden re-appeared outside of the restaurant it was stolen from. The keys were in it along with a hand-written note explaining what happened.
“Hey man, brought your truck back. Sorry, mate. Was drunk and needed a ride home,” the thief wrote on a page seemingly torn out of an agenda and dated April 17, 2014. He also went through the trouble of buying toys for the truck owner’s kid and leaving them in the truck.
Kati Street called the incident “totally unbelievable.” The restaurant explained that “[the thief] still mucked with [the truck] a little bit, but for the most part it’s all there and nothing was taken.” Let this happy ending serve as a reminder not to leave your car idling while unattended. Car thefts are rising in the United States, they’ve tripled in some cities, and leaving the engine running makes your vehicle an easy target.
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