London Free Press: More sites hit by vandals
More sites hit by vandals
A group called the Earth Liberation Front is suspected in the damage.By DANIELA SIMUNAC, FREE PRESS REPORTER
The list of London construction sites hit by vandals continues to grow as police investigate if the damage is the work of an eco-terrorist group.
Vandals who cut wires and filled gas tanks and oil systems with gravel caused more than $100,000 in damage at four sites in the south and west ends earlier this week.
Yesterday, Michael Hayman of Hayman Construction Inc. reported two of his sites were also hit by vandals believed to be from Earth Liberation Front, a group claiming responsibility for destruction at construction sites across Ontario, including Toronto, Guelph and Brantford.
"At first we just thought it was our two jobs," said Hayman, after learning from yesterday's Free Press of the vandalism spree in the city.
"We've had mischief vandalism (in the past), but not this particular thing," he said.
Site personnel found damage last Friday at the Home Depot site on Dundas Street and Clarke Road, said John Gautreau, a Hayman superintendent.
Vandals broke into the construction trailer, got cement and filled fuel tanks in excavating equipment with cement powder, he said.
"They got into all kinds of stuff here. It's costing people a lot of money."
Eight pieces of equipment were damaged and Gautreau estimated the value of each to be at least $30,000 -- all of which could have been lost, he said.
A repair crew arrived and "It took them more than an eight-hour day to get the equipment up and running again," he said.
A message smeared in grease was left on the windshield of an excavator, saying "something like 'Save our Earth,' " said Gautreau. The message was written backwards, so the machine operator could read it, he said.
The vandals "must have been on this job site for one to two hours minimum," Gautreau said.
"It's the first time I've ever seen this."
Whoever did the damage "would know gravel would cause a great deal of damage," said Hayman.
At the Toyota dealership on Wharncliffe Road, south of Southdale Road, workers found fuel tanks of four machines filled with gravel, along with pierced tires on a forklift, superintendent Doug Lelacheur said.
The damage was discovered Tuesday morning, he said.
"It's the down time that really hurts," said Lelacheur. About 40 people were temporarily out of work as equipment was repaired.
At a nearby site on Wharncliffe Road, vandals struck again, this time at Elgin Construction, cutting wires in at least two machines and filling fuel tanks with gravel, he said.
"That would bugger things up for a day or two," said Lelacheur.
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