COLLIE man Dean Goltz has lost lost hundreds of dollars after vandals set his car on fire in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Mr Goltz, a mechanical fitter at Muja Power station who lives in Denton Street, was awoken at 2.15am by somebody warning him that his car was on fire.
He rushed out and spent 20 minutes trying to put out the blaze before fire fighters arrived.
"The volunteer firefighters had a job trying to open the bonnet of the vehicle as the engine was on fire but eventually the blaze was brought under control," Mr Goltz said.
However, his uninsured 2000 Nissan Nevara was left a complete write off.
Mr Goltz had left a drum of petrol in the back of the vehicle for use in his lawn mower and the perpetrators tipped this all over the car before setting it alight.
The incident has left him in a state of shock.
"I can't believe this has happened and it appears to be a totally random attack," Mr Goltz said.
"I've lived here for 10 years and never had any problems with anybody and I don't know of any of my neighbours having problems either.
"I haven't even had anybody try to break into my home and I'm also not aware of any other incidents of vandalism taking place in our area.
"Furthermore, my neighbour is a policeman".
Sergeant Mike Dean from Collie police said the attack may have been a case of mistaken identity in a possibly deliberate attack.
"Generally vandalism is rare in Collie so the perpetrators might have targeted the wrong person by accident," Mr Dean said.
"We are continuing to investigate the incident and if anybody has any information, please contact the police urgently."
