Penticton businesses step up to replace Peachland paramedic’s stolen tires (Peachland)

Paramedic Connor Ayerst is back on the road with some new wheels and tires. The Kelowna resident, who works in Peachland, got a very unpleasant surprise when he finished a night shift on October 12. He walked outside the Peachland ambulance station to find that someone had stolen his tires right off his truck. “Unfortunately, there’s no cameras directly facing that location,” said Ayerst. He reported the crime to West Kelowna RCMP. Even the responding officer was surprised by the blatant theft. "We’re transplants from Ontario. We’ve been here about a year and a half, or so. If this had happened in a similar-sized town back in Ontario, I’d be shocked, so we’re kind of also shocked seeing it here,” Ayerst said at the time. While the stolen property has not been found, the story doesn’t end there. Connor’s tale of woe grabbed the attention of a couple of businessmen in Penticton. Earlier this week, they made the trip to Peachland to gift him with new tires, rims and fuel cards. Barry Beecroft Fuel Distributors Ltd. and Fountain Tire (Penticton) joined forces to replace the four stolen tires and wheels. When he heard the news of the theft, Ryan Beecroft, general manager of Barry Beecroft Fuel Distributors, immediately reached out to Chuck Thompson, the owner of Fountain Tire in Penticton, to work on a coordinated response. “When we read the story about one of our frontline heroes being targeted in such a blatant way, we knew we couldn't just stand by, ” said Ryan Beecroft. “These individuals are there for us in our moments of greatest need. This was a chance for us to be there for him.” Ayerst said that Thompson had already ordered replacement tires, even before Beecraft contacted him after seeing the Castanet article. “We have known and worked with Chuck for years and know he runs a community-focused business. We knew he would be happy to assist,” said Beecroft. Castanet connected the two businessmen with the paramedic. “I reached out to Chuck and he asked me what I was comfortable with, what kind of wheels I wanted and said, ‘no worries. I’ve got them sorted. We’ll have them here next week, “ said Ayerst. “So, within a couple of business days, these guys had wheels on my truck.” Beecroft and Thompson travelled to Peachland on Wednesday to install the tires and gift him with $250 in gas cards. “They put the wheels on the truck and then I was going from there. It was incredible,” said a grateful Ayerst. He said Fountain Tire also gave him some wheel locks to hopefully deter any future tire thieves.