Vigilante grandmothers

I hate that it's come to this, but I do love the story.

Instinct took over when a grandmother on an early morning coffee run in Cambridge noticed a ramraid in progress on the main street.

She wasn’t having it, not at 5.30am on Easter Monday.

“I just thought, right, this is not happening,” the 63-year-old, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday.

She had all her family staying for the long weekend - her eight grandchildren and three of her children – and had earlier nipped down to BP for coffee beans.

Coming back down Victoria St without her phone (it was lost on the couch) she noticed a white car rammed into the Spark store, a getaway car and someone with a mask on.

“I crossed the median, there was no-one around - it was like a ghost town – and just rammed his car.”

The offenders, who she describes as youths, came running out of the shop, yelling.

“It was quite hilarious. One rather chubby guy, he fell over, he was in jandals. I saw his builder’s crack.”

She started to feel a little concerned as her car, a Toyota Rav4, wouldn’t go into reverse.

“But then it did, I had my horn going, and they were still getting in the car, so I rammed them again, and I pushed them up onto the garden. I just didn’t want them to get away.”

They did, however, break free so she chased them up Victoria St onto Hamilton Rd, where they did a u-turn and went up Grey St.

“I had my horn going for about maybe 10 minutes. They then went down a one-way street, I followed them, and I was thinking, oh gosh this is not good. I was starting to lose my braveness and I lost them.”

She went to the police station, which was closed, so waited at the Spark store where a passing woman called the police after hearing her story.

The whole drama was then relayed to her husband.

“He has never done anything wrong ever, never had a speeding fine, nothing. I rang him up and told him the story in a crybaby voice, and he said, I will come down ... I looked at him walking down the road, and he put his arms up, and I fell into his arms and he said, don't worry darling. I think it’s worth it.”

The family made her bacon and eggs for breakfast, and the coffee beans were put to good use.

“I have seen my friends in jewellery shops, they’re off work for a week because of what these young kids are doing,” the woman said. “They don’t care, they're not frightened. And no-one is doing anything. I think I always knew if I saw something I would stop it.”

She has suffered a few sleepless nights and the impact hurt her back.

Her Rav4 was wrecked and at the local panel beaters. She’s unsure if insurance is going to cover the repairs.

“It costs you to be brave, it costs you to stand up to these kids. It's cost me a few sleepless nights, it’s cost me the damage to my car, but I will happily do that because they can’t do it any more. Well, not in Cambridge.

“We are all sitting back waiting for the Government to do something. Well, it’s not going to happen and the police’s hands are tied.”

If she winds up being out of pocket on the panelbeating costs, I hope someone sets up a donation fund. I'd chip in.