Thanks for your help, Londoloza

Sundowner resident writes:

A couple of weekends ago, a drunk driver smashed through our front gate and wall just after 1am on the Sunday morning.

I had had major jaw surgery 11 days earlier and my house-mate was recovering from a tooth extraction.

The accident woke us up with a loud bang, followed by the sound of a car’s hooter stuck on. It was very scary.

We cautiously ventured outside to see what had happened.

I could go into some detail about the behaviour and attitude of the drunk driver and his friends who rushed to his “rescue”, but I won’t.

For the next 11 days our house was the only un-gated property in the suburb.

We hired a night guard because we felt so vulnerable.

Needless to say both me and my house-mate’s work and health were badly affected.

The gate and wall were finally repaired through our insurance company last week, and we feel so relieved to be safe again.

We are also glad that no-one was injured or killed.

One of our neighbours told us that his wife was killed because of a drunk driver.

I can’t fathom why people don’t use a taxi or buddy system when they drink alcohol and then need to travel.

What I would like to say is a big thank you to Londoloza security company for all the help they gave us that night.

The patrol vehicle was at the scene within minutes – and we didn’t call them out, so their colleagues nearby must have.

Londoloza patrol guards gave me and my house-mate protection from a young man who was literally not in his right mind and seemed intent on following one wrong action with another.

We’re not even clients of Londoloza, so their willingness to protect us was amazing and we are very grateful.

The guards stayed with us from the time of the accident until the tow-truck arrived, and then they went to follow up on some issues related to the same incident. Later they returned to wait with us until the police arrived.

After the wrecked car was removed (at about 4.30pm), a Londoloza guard asked me for a broom to sweep the debris off our driveway so that we could get our cars out.

The guards cleared the chunks of concrete from the driveway entrance and carried the mangled gate onto the pavement. (Photo attached.)

The trauma which a drunk person caused us in the blink of an eye was really eased by the helpfulness of Londoloza personnel.

I can see why Sundowner Residents’ Association has chosen to use their services.

Sadly, we are unable to sign up with them because we can’t afford the SRA fees, so we have now signed on with another company.

But I want to thank Londoloza for going far beyond the call of duty.

It is good to know that for every dangerous person who is cruising around out there in the dead of night, there are also teams of wide-awake, sober, hard-working and decent people whose only mission is to protect innocent victims.

The police are part of this effort too. When SAPS finally reached us – and it was not their fault that they could not arrive sooner, as their resources are limited – they were very efficient and pleasant to deal with. All of these people were night-shift workers; they look after the community while we sleep.

Thank you to everybody who helped us, including several of our neighbours.

Editor’s note: Letter published unedited.