Jack's scooter woes solved

The smile exploded right off Jack Cloughley's 10-year-old face.

Faith and understanding was restored – he had a new scooter to replace his stolen $400 state-of-the-art Blunt Prodigal.


New scooter – a sad Jack Cloughley made happy. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Jack had a nasty life lesson the other day when his scooter was knicked from under his nose, from the security cage at Papamoa Primary School.

He was devastated to the point that he almost cried. The Weekend Sun highlighted Jack's plight in last Friday edition – and the received this message:

'Hi guys – About Jack's stolen scooter. I can offer Jack a new grit scooter worth $300 for free.”

A kind message from a man who had the measure of Jack's despair – Kel Travers of the Indoor Tramp and Skate Park in Triton Avenue at Mount Maunganui. Jack's goes there with his skate and scooter mates – and Kel wanted to put the wrong right.

And when Jack got home last evening, after losing a rippa rugby match, his spirits needed a lift. So we presented him with the 'very wicked” new blue Grit Tremor.

He was gobsmacked, and when he gathered himself he said: 'Thanks, cool,” which amounts to an emotional outpouring from a 10-year-old rugby playing bloke.

But there's an unfortunate postscript to all of this. As an excited Jack was doing 180s in the driveway, his Mum Delwyn Cloughley tells us two more scooters had been stolen that very day.

Down at Papamoa Primary, deputy principal Wayne Whitaker thought they'd done everything necessary to keep stuff secure.

'Now the security cage where scooters and bikes are stored is being opened after school is out, to reduce the window of opportunity for thieves,” he explains.

'We are looking at how we can do things better.”

There's an attitude that students shouldn't take valuable possessions to school. But Papamoa Primary is a 'save the world school”, and students are encouraged to cycle, scoot, walk and bus to school to reduce the numbers of cars.

'That's our philosophy,” says Wayne, 'so you can't say: ‘Don't bring scooters'. You can't preach one thing and practise another. We just have to think about how we can do things better.”

You may also like....

1 comment

I

Posted on 02-04-2015 22:13 | By Capt_Kaveman

dont care about the privacy thing schools need cameras, meanwhile the person who took it gets away


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.