Has anyone else heard about this: Looks like they used the excavator to wreak all this havoc, by the looks of it someone who has run one before. Disgruntled employee? Angry landowner? Environmentalists? Inside insurance job? IDK but what a mess...
Maybe someone hasn't paid there bills.
Have seen similar vandalism a few years ago. Can't remember if it was from a disgruntled employee or just a random act of destruction.
Someone either had a key chain full of keys or they left the keys in the equipment. One more reason to have coded machines and battery disconnects.
A place I worked for years ago had that same thing happen, though bigger and older machines. Who ever did it had to know how to operate fairly well, the D9 had a pony start.
Yeah that was in the news over a week ago. The main piece of equipment that wasn't brought to the job was a 150 ton crane to dangle all the toys from during off hours. When I would drive through Seattle or Portland it was a common sight to see all kinds of stuff airborne during the weekends. Anymore most all are patrolled, Lampson Crane yard in Pasco is patrolled 24 hrs a day.
The keys are always hidden on all our machines. Everyone in the country has a Cat key. Had that happen to a company I worked for years ago. They drove the grader and got it stuck. Got a D8N going and let it go though the woods. It didn't get far. came up against a big hardwood, and spun until it ran out of fuel. Happened over a weekend
I always take the keys out of my equipment at the end of the day, even when we leave for lunch. I'm not worried about people stealing the equipment, more about someone (especially kids) getting on it and doing harm or getting themselves hurt. Thieves are going to steal a piece of equipment if they want it bad enough, keys or not. Does remind me of a story, when I was maybe 10-12yrs old NC DOT left a JD 310D backhoe parked near the road that went along the back of the farm. In the evening when they were gone curiosity got the best of me, I wanted to see if one of the keys from our JD tractors would also fit that backhoe. Sure enough it did, so naturally I just had to start it. I played with the loader and maybe the hoe for a minute or two and I might have moved it forward and back a couple feet, then tried to park it exactly as it was. As much as I would have liked to I didn't dare drive it around for fear of getting caught lol.
Went on vacation years ago to Panarama in the summer. It was a ski resort in winter but also a summer resort with a bunch of roads and trails. They rented bicycles so you go exploring. I went down a road and came to a JD544 loader. It was a county owned machine. The door wasn't even closed. Being interested in equipment I climbed in it just sit on the seat. I didn't touch anything but looked down and saw the key was still in it. Anybody could have drove off with it. I was kind of shocked it was left like that.