Friends rally to help Costa del Sol chimney sweep after theft of tools worth more than 10,000 euros

When chimney sweep Vaclav Matousek, who lives in Torrox on the eastern Costa del Sol, had all of his tools stolen from his van overnight on Sunday 16 February his friends Nigel Barrett and Mark Sylvester wasted no time in coming to his help. They immediately set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to replace the stolen items.

Vaclav, whose father was Czech and mother from South Africa, explained that on Monday 17 February he walked to his van and saw a broken window. “I was angry and thought it was someone that broke it intentionally or unintentionally overnight, but in my head I was just thinking [it had] better not be a theft. Then I opened the door and I went weak, finding everything gone, all my tools. It's the worst nightmare for a tradesman,” he told SUR in English.

Vaclav posted a warning on Torrox and Axarquía information pages on Facebook to warn other people about what had happened to him and then went to report the incident to the Guardia Civil. “People that know me and some that don't know me but felt the pain I was going through started sending some messages and commenting on my post,” Vaclav recalled.

The social media post was picked up by Mark Sylvester who runs the Torrox Community Facebook page. As he also works in the building trade, he knew exactly what kind of impact this would have on Vaclav’s business. “He is always helping people that are in need” and helped people in “Valencia after the floods”, Vaclav said of Mark, adding, “He goes out of his way”.

Mark offered to give Vaclav some tools so he could start working again and another friend, Nigel Barrett, contacted Vaclav as he wanted to set up a GoFundMe page “to help me raise some money for the tools that were stolen”.

Although Vaclav admits that he doesn’t like asking for donations, this time, faced with enormous costs and loss of business, he “said yes” to Nigel’s idea. “With love, kindness and support so far we have raised 1,650 euros,” Vaclav explained and added that Mark and Nigel “were the first to donate”.

Sylvester describes Vaclav as “a bit of a local celebrity”. He added, “He’s very well known in the local community for being a very happy and very good worker. He's one of my favourite human beings and everyone loves him.”

Vaclav has started to replace some of his tools, although Mark estimates that his friend lost between 10 and 15,000 euros worth of specialist tools. As well as the Gofundme donations, a lot of local builders as well as Mark have given him tools and contributed donations. “To a tradesman losing tools to thieves is heartbreaking and it's a long recovery process to get back to normal,” he added.

Click here for the Gofundme page.