The burnt out oil tanker at the offices of the Aventas group
THE owner of the £10,000 fuel tanker carrying 1,500 litres of fuel that was stolen and then used in an arson attack on the Derrylin head offices of the former Quinn Group, has hit out at the disregard shown by those involved to local businesses.
Tommy Cassidy told the Herald: “It means my driver is out of work. We just had the one tanker in our ‘northern’ yard, and they broke in and stole it. All I can say that whoever started it had a fantastic knowledge of the lorry business.”
Asked if he had any plans to deter a similar episode happening again, Mr Cassidy said it was something he would have to look at.
“It’s all burnt out and what I can’t understand is why pick on local businesses like ours? And, whoever orchestrated it, their plan was to flatten the building completely. All that was in their minds was to burn out the jobs in Quinn’s.”
A spokesman for Aventas Group (the rebranded Quinn Group) explained that outer protection to the company’s head offices had been reviewed, and would be looked at again.
“They drove over the bollards which would have offered protection against the like of cars and jeeps, but, because of the height clearance that a lorry offers, the bollards stopped the lorry to a degree in that they contained the lorry.”
As to the potential outcome of the attack, the spokesman added: “The whole building could have gone up in a fireball. And, the other thing is: this happened at night and people often work at night here and, anyway, they (the attackers) had no knowledge if anyone was inside or not.”
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere