A Peachland man who discovered the lug nuts on one of the wheels of his wife’s car had be loosened is speaking out about the suspected sabotage.
Travis Nixon said he noticed all the bolts on the car’s front driver’s side tire were loose after a strange noise prompted him to pull over and check the lug nuts.
The father of two now checks the lug nuts on both his family’s vehicles daily.
His family’s car just one of at least four vehicles in Peachland and West Kelowna that has had its lug nuts loosened in recent weeks.
In May, RCMP issued two separate public warnings to residents of those communities to check their vesicles’ wheels for possible sabotage.
In the most serious case, one of the front wheels of an SUV fell off. Police said the West Kelowna driver was trying to get the car back to home home at the time.
No one has been hurt.
“In separate incidents owners have complained about damage to their tires, more specifically they found their lug nuts had been loosened or completely removed, even in some cases their gas had been siphoned as well,” Kelowna RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said.
Nixon believes the perpetrator is hoping for damage.
“They are looking for the destruction and they are looking to see the accident scene,” he said.
However, Nixon believes the culprit is not thinking of the most serious possible consequences.
“If you killed my wife and kids, how would you feel about it then?” Nixon said when asked what he’d like to say to the culprit.
“It is not just an issue of what you can do to my car, cars can be fixed, lives can’t.”
When he thinks back to the day he found the loosened bolts, Nixon said he might not have noticed the noise if he hadn’t turned down the radio.