Edinburgh drinks firm suffers 'real blow' after delivery scooter smashed up by vandals
Rory Gammell was ‘gutted’ when he discovered his scooter had been smashed after last weekend’s storm
The owners of a budding Edinburgh-based whisky business have suffered a “real blow” after their delivery scooter was severely damaged in a suspected attempted theft in the city centre.
Rory Gammell, founder of Wee Smoky, discovered the damage on George Street on Monday morning when checking whether the vehicle had survived weekend storms.
But instead of weather damage, Rory found a broken steering lock, a smashed mirror and a “hacked in” back box.
“It looks like it was thieves,” the entrepreneur said. “That they have the audacity to do that in such a public area seems crazy but I have seen them in the past wheeling their way down George Street which just seems nuts that they can get away with that.
“I think what might have saved it is it's really hard to start it so they clearly didn’t manage to start it but I’m now buying a massive padlock to try to deter them.”
Fortunately the company, which specialises in whisky cocktails and started out of Mr Gammell’s Edinburgh kitchen before finding success in Australia, did not leave any stock in the back box but they still have “a few hundred pounds” of repairs to cover.
Mr Gammell and co-owner Felix Bottomley use the scooter to travel around the city, pitching their wares to shopkeepers in the hope they will agree to stock them.
But the pair worry the battered scooter could give potential stockists the wrong impression.
Mr Bottomley said: “For a big company, this would be an inconvenience. For us, it's a real blow.”
Dad-of-two Mr Gammell explained that Wee Smoky is finally trying to break into the “saturated” Scottish whisky market while already struggling with significant rise in business rates and national insurance.
“Rory was gutted. We've put everything into these cans, and seeing the thing that carries them around the city treated like that really hurt,” Mr Bottomley added.
According to Mr Gammell, the pair are currently “working our asses off” to take on the large companies dominating the whisky industry.
The duo vowed not to let the damage stop them, adding: “We’re not giving up.”