Dedicated Dineshan ‘tows’ the line for police
One of Dineshan's many difficult tasks is recovering stolen vehicles. If a vehicle is recovered anywhere from Umtata to Richards Bay, he's the man who will retrieve that vehicle.
Ever wondered about changing your career and becoming a tow truck operator?
As many have come to know, tow truck drivers can be both the hero rescuing people from the side of the road or the villain wanting to haul your car off after an accident or for parking illegally.
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Well, tow truck operator Dineshan Naicker is no villain. Employed at Port Shepstone Saps Supply Chain Management for the past five years, it’s a new adventure every day for the 23-year-old. One might think its an easy job but this is not your everyday pick-up-and- drop-off job.
One of Dineshan’s many difficult tasks is recovering stolen vehicles. If a vehicle is recovered anywhere from Umtata to Richards Bay, he’s the man who will retrieve that vehicle.
Once a vehicle is recovered, all necessary paperwork must be completed at the Port Shepstone Vehicle Identification Section in Marburg. The vehicle is then inspected and any items found in the vehicle are handed in as evidence.
“I have a passion for trucks. I grew up in a family with trucks and buses so I love my job. Yes, it’s tough at times as we often get called out at odd hours to recover vehicles so that investigations can start as soon as possible. And I have to at all times be extremely careful that I don’t damage or destroy evidence.”
Dineshan added that at times a recovery can take more than an hour.
“The roads we travel on are sometimes in a very bad condition and recoveries are often done at night. We often have to cut down trees to recover a vehicle.”
Sometimes he enters very volatile areas. “I was in the Eastern Cape area last year and needed to recover two vehicles. Fortunately I was with officers from the Saps Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit at the time. One of the vehicles was driveable but the other was not. It was an automatic car and we had no keys.
“We managed to load the vehicle on the flat-bed tow truck and, when we were about to leave, the community locked the gates and didn’t want us to leave with the vehicles. This was very scary but police managed to speak to the community and they let us go. I don’t blame them for acting in that way as they probably thought we were stealing the vehicles,” he said.
His commander, Captain Nelson Thompson said Dineshan is a very dedicated and loyal worker. “He is always willing to work after hours without pay and one can clearly see that he has a passion for his work. With limited resources he carries out his work with expertise. He also drives a water tanker and a sewer truck. He often delivers water to rural police stations that don’t have water and saves the state a lot of money,” said Captain Thompson.
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