Bram and Thomas Hester from Tilburg were close to despair. Would they ever see their motor home again, into which they had invested so much soul, bliss and money and which was stolen last weekend? And especially how? Well, faster than expected and above all hardly damaged.
The brothers had been working on the oldtimer for months and invested more than ten thousand euros in it. To refurbish the car in such a way that the younger of the two, Bram, could soon go on holiday with it. However, thieves had other plans and they stole the pimped up 1978 Mercedes camper van from a business park in Tilburg.
Camper was ‘still’ in Antwerp
Still processing their frustration, anger and grief, the brothers set out in search of their motor home. But where? Yes, it seems to happen more often that these types of vehicles are put on a boat in Antwerp to be able to sell elsewhere. Thomas also traveled to the Belgian port city, but he was actually looking for a needle in a haystack there. And that’s quite difficult. He returned without success.
Yet his hunch did not fail him. A resident of Antwerp, who wishes to remain anonymous, announced Monday afternoon via Facebook that he had found the camper. “It would be near the harbour, somewhere along the road, in a place where you didn’t have to pay for parking. I didn’t know how fast I could drive to Belgium to see and pick up the camper,” says Thomas.
Damage was okay
He not only found the old-timer, the damage also turned out to be not so bad. “Only part of the bumper was slightly damaged. And in the car a cupboard was broken. There were pans in there and they didn’t take them with them.” In short, all’s well that ends well, although it will still have a tail for the perpetrators (should they ever be traced).
Gratitude prevailed with Bram and Thomas. For the Belgian who found the camper, he will be rewarded. “But also for Omroep Brabant: unbelievable how often your story has been shared via Facebook. Not normal”, says Thomas, who can breathe a sigh of relief after an extremely tiring weekend for him and his brother.
Holiday can continue
In turn, Bram can look forward to his planned camping holiday in Italy with extra pleasure. That can now continue, because a second time the brothers will no longer have their camper stolen.