Papakura St John Paramedic has car stolen from his workplace whilst he's out saving lives.

Neal Latto is a long serving Paramedic with St John stationed at Papakura. He lives in Huntly and travels to and from there each day to his shifts many of which can be up to 16 hours.

Sometime in the early morning of the 5th of Feb while he was on a call out with a life Threating incident some person or persons stole his vehicle from the St John premises in Papakura.

Link to this https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/02/paramedic-s-car-stolen-from-ambulance-depot-while-he-was-out-on-job.html

They gained entry by smashing a window and used one of his screwdrivers taken from his tool kit in the back of the car to prise out the ignition switch. He found the broken glass, the remants of the ignition switch and his screwdriver on the ground where his car had been when returning to the station at 3 am. At least they threw out a lanyard that has the keys to his house and work.

So why set up a give a little.page.?

The car has recently been purchased for $8200 on HP like most of us have to do. There is very little equity in it at this point. It was insured with a $500 excess.

The insurance co say it will take some weeks to process his claim and in any event the money goes back to the finance company so he is without the means to commence a new purchase right now.

He has to find a way to get from Huntly to Papakura each day for work with the shifts, no public transport, St John not offering any assistance (yet car taken from their unsecured station yard).

His shifts can be and often are up to 16 hrs.

Insurance company offer a rental car up to $1000 max, but he has to pay for it and claim it back.

He doesn't have those means right now. Many officers like Neal have to supplement their income by taking recall shifts on their days off to earn a little extra just to get by.

His wages are such that there is no fat after paying living and normal household expenses and the stress on these officers is extreme without having to deal with this.

So he goes to work to serve your community works often with little or no breaks, uses his skills to save lives and protect those who have been injured as he was doing on this nite and his reward is the only means of transport is taken from him.

Actually he was attending a life threating incident at the time his car was stolen.

What can the community DO?

This page is being setup to assist Neal to try and find some light at the end of the tunnel by donating so he can cover off his transport costs so he can get this mess not of his making sorted out .

To the low lives that took his car return it so he can continue to have some faith in the people he is serving in your district.