As gas prices soar, a Kamloops daycare has had to cancel programs after their mini-bus was targeted by gas thieves.

Malia Magnusson of the Kamloops Village Garden Early Learning Centre on Hugh Allan Drive says sometime over the weekend, someone drilled a hole in the gas tank of their 23-person bus in an attempt to siphon fuel.

“We went underneath and saw that there was a hole drilled in the gas tank,” she said, noting staff arrived on Monday morning to discover a stream of gas coming from their mini-bus running into a nearby drain.

“We have had to have [our bus] towed.”

The vehicle is now in the shop getting a new gas tank but this has meant that some parents have been forced to find other childcare options.

“It’s been really, really challenging. We’ve had to close our before school care program because we do not have a vehicle that is suitable to take the kids and it has forced some closures in some after-school programs,” she said.

“I mean children – the parents rely on these services and we’ve had to close at a moments notice with no warning.”

Magnuson says this is the second time they’ve been hit. Back in December, a mini-van also belonging to the daycare had its gas tank drilled and emptied.

“So it’s just been challenge after challenge after challenge,” Magnusson said on NL Newsday, calling this the year from hell, as they’ve had to pay insurance deductibles, while also dealing with COVID-19 and staff shortages.

NL News has reached out to Kamloops RCMP for more information.

More to come