A Dublin man was left shocked after brazen thieves pretending to be testers stole his car's catalytic converter at the NCT centre in Ballymun.
Seán Redmond was booked in for his NCT test on the morning of June 26. He had parked at one of the bays while he was waiting for his test.
A man came over to him dressed exactly like one of the testers and asked him to leave his vehicle and move towards a fence where others were waiting.
Seán said: “This chap came over to me dressed like one of the testers and told me to move away from the car.”
Six or seven people were waiting at the fence completely not aware of the foul play happening before their eyes.
The thief played a convincing role in impersonating a NCT tester. He had a Dublin accent and was very calm.
“He had a similar sort of jacket on him.”
It wasn’t until a stranger raised the alarm that Seán realised that he had been hoodwinked. The man noticed and called it to the attention of his own NCT tester.
The observant bystander had watched in disbelief as two thieves took something from a car. This something later transpired to be Seán's catalytic convertor.
The swift robbery took a little over 30 seconds, not nearly long enough for those running the centre to realise that something was up.
The incident has left Seán at a loss for words.
He told RTE's LiveLine: “It was shocking.
“I was astonished.”
If it had not been for the quick action of the bystander, Seán would never have realised what had happened to his car.
“These boys were so quick. I didn’t see it.
“Only that chap was so alert… I didn’t see anything.”
Seán believes that the gang are professionals as they had the nerves to commit the crime in broad daylight.
The employees in the NCT centre assured the Liveline caller that this incident was the first of its kind. No CCTV footage was available at the time.
The Gardaí are now investigating the incident.
