Car theft spoils sick man's training hopes

BY MARC GREENHILL

A Mid-Canterbury cystic fibrosis sufferer has put new career plans on hold after his car and painting equipment were stolen a day after he left Christchurch Hospital.

Doyle Haydon-Gliddon, of Mayfield, near Ashburton, found his prized Nissan Skyline had been stolen while he was visiting his brother in the city suburb of St Albans on Sunday.

The 21-year-old had just been discharged after four weeks in Christchurch Hospital with a chest infection.

"We're were gone for maybe an hour, and we got back and the car was gone," he said.

"It's like a kick in the guts because I've been working on that car for so long."

The car was covered only by third-party insurance.

Haydon-Gliddon said the "big sting" was also losing spray equipment worth $1000 that he bought to train as a car painter.

He was enrolled in a six- month course at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, but was forced to pullout because of ill-health.

"It got to the point I was going to hospital that much I was going to miss out on too much work," he said. "I wasn't going to be able to do it, so I was looking at another alternative."

A friend with a panel and paint shop in Ashburton agreed to train him once he bought his own equipment.

Haydon-Gliddon said the new spray gear was still in its box when it was stolen, and the theft was a "major setback".

"I can't get really get a qualification for a trade under my belt," he said.

"At the times I do feel well, I can work. I just need the certificates."

It would take some time to replace the equipment, he said.

"I still want to do [automotive painting]. I just don't think it will happen for a while now," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News