Christophe Montastier has already had equipment stolen: panels, barriers, batteries, diesel. But so far, never a trailer. “It’s a first”laughs bitterly the boss of the eponymous public works company based in Bugue (Dordogne) since 1958. One of its double-axle trailers parked at La Douze for a construction site has disappeared on the night of Monday 18 to Tuesday 19 November. The thieves would have it on board with a tractor.
Tractor tire tracks on the ground
The Montastier company is carrying out a major water pipe renewal project in the La Douze sector for several weeks. Towed by a truck, the famous blue trailer from the AMC Castera brand is used to move a drill. She was parked on the edge of the very busy departmental 710, the road which leads from Sarlat to Périgueux, near the garbage bins, just before arriving at La Douze. “We have to park near the construction sites, justifies Christophe Montastier. There was other equipment stored in a private yard, but the trailer did not fit there. So, she stayed there for a good while, a month, without worry, in this place which didn't bother anyone.”.
Marie-Astrid Guégan
Except that Tuesday, November 19 in the morning, when the workers resume the site, they can no longer find the trailer. A neighbor then tells them she saw and heard something. “She told us that she had heard a tractor noise at around 11:30 p.m. The tractor was struggling, but she saw it leave with the trailer. She wasn't too worried, she didn't worry. asked questions. She just told us the next day because we could no longer find the trailer. There were indeed marks on the ground right next to it which corresponded to tractor wheels, with the large imprints of the tires.describes the business manager.
“The theft of panels and diesel is common. That’s less”
Christophe Montastier's brother goes to the gendarmerie to file a complaint. “Theft of panels and diesel is common.laments the boss. It's surprising. But it’s true that a tractor with a trailer doesn’t really attract the eye.” The trailer is worth “environ 30.000€”. And what's more, this theft slows down the construction site : “It's very unpleasant. You have to manage to continue working, so you have to move the machine differently, find another trailer, or possibly rent one, and then you will end up having to buy another one.”. The business manager does not expect to be compensated by his insurancebecause his 14-year-old trailer no longer has any residual value.
“If it was a tractor that took her, she must not have gone very far”believes Christophe Montastier. Its employees have published posts on social networks to try to find the trailer, without success so far. “Locking up all the equipment, bringing it in every evening, it's not possible, it's just unthinkable.”concludes the entrepreneur, fatalistic.
