A hunt is underway in regional South Australia for the culprits who crashed a buggy into a tree on a popular golf course and fled the scene.
Key points:
- The damage is expected to cost at least $1,000 to repair
- Bill Burley says dozens of buggies have been damaged
- He said alcohol was often a factor
Blue Lake Golf Links operator Bill Burley said he was fed up with people damaging buggies on the fairways.
He said more than 30 buggies had been damaged at the course.
“We’ve got to take people’s names, IDs, credit card details,” Mr Burley said.
“I don’t really want to have to do that, but these are motor vehicle If someone was hurt doing this, I would feel really terrible.
“We just want people to be smart with what they do and their actions — they need to be accountable.”
‘You lose your faith’
Mr Burley has called for the person involved in the latest incident to come forward and said that in this case staff did not get the name or phone number of the customer.
He the buggy’s bonnet and windscreen were damaged and would cost in excess of $1,000 to fix.
He said it was difficult to get parts and that the cart being out of commission would impact revenue and customers.
“You lose your faith in people,” Mr Burley said.
“We do a lot of stuff here for the community — it could be their kids that we help out, it could be their families, or their sports club.
“It is quite disrespectful.”
Buggies and booze
Mr Burley said much of the damage in the past had been caused by people under the influence of alcohol.
“We’re a licensed premise and our course is licensed, so legally people can’t bring their own alcohol,” he said.
“It’s our livelihood as well and we pay a lot of money now for licenses — these sort of people can risk our licence.
“We need people to cut back on what they’re drinking if they’re going to be like that.
“This is the problem — it’s always one group that all spoils it for everyone else.
“We will not tolerate disorderly behaviour, we want it to be a family club we want people to can come and feel safe.”
