Just seen on local TV news (BBC North West) about a scam carried out at a "Classic Mini Centre" in Glossop (Derbyshire). It seemed that people took their pride and joys there for the "Expert" to do work on---instead he stripped the cars, and then did a bunk with their money and a lot of (probably) difficult to replace parts. The yard is just covered in various (original) mini shells and bits of engine and transmissions. Among the cars seen on the news item at this site is a blue Fiat 500----DOES THIS 500 BELONG TO A FORUM MEMBER? If it does, (a) I am desperately sorry for you, (b) contact the local police straight way and, (c) is there anything or anyway that we on this forum can help you with? I only live about 60 miles from Glossop (I live just outside Chester), so probably one of the closest to Glossop.

That's sad but mainly it's criminal. The Law always seems designed to obstruct the true victims in this sort of case. I Googled it and it seems to have been a long time coming as there is plenty of appalling feedback about the place. The name of the owner of the "business" is at least known.

Rotten Bar Stewards ����

Been going on for years this type of thing to be honest...
I have seen parts taken from one car used on another and so on...
they will have no assets to seize nothing in their name...
then friends and family will leap to their defense saying they had some personal tragedy, but tried to soldier on for another 5 years to keep people happy, meanwhile fleecing people...Then try an convince anyone that really obscure original part that you will never find again is worth more than £10.
Please have left vehicles at places fr a year or more, simply because they don't have storage and they are told "ohhh we will do it along side other projects it will be our job when we are slack"...
Then they go back a year later to find their vehicle stripped and they have a hard time proving anything...
Argue with a garage that that curb mark on your wheel was not there when you took it in or a scratch etc...
Unless it's a main dealer who will accept most things... how much time and money do you have to fight in court..
The Law is not all it seems... even if you are right and win.. you win nothing...
I had a garage change some wheel bearings on my MH, I specified the wheel bearings (yes all in writing), after weeks of arguing eventually they revealed they had not fitted what I asked for but OEM specification ones... I had letters from the Manufacturer stating they only recommended what I had specified... guess what... I could take them to court and would win.... but there s nothing legally to make them swap to what I asked for, all I would be given is my costs and the difference in price, if i was lucky a token sum as inconvenience... I used to work for one of the largest Law firms in the world, and this is std... basically the bearings do the same job, they are of the same specification.. fight all you want they said, but you will not get what you want.

sorry for the rant... bad day at black rock...

There should be a 'special' place reserved for those who steal parts from classic cars or defraud their owners (A bunch of jolly nice folks!).

AL.

F123C said:

There should be a 'special' place reserved for those who steal parts from classic cars or defraud their owners (A bunch of jolly nice folks!).

Click to expand...

I believe there is .. in't it called "Prison" or is that where people go to obtain 3 means a day somewhere nice warm and comfy to live for a short while FOC, and get their Xbox or what ever else they want otherwise their "Human rights" have been abused.. and noo the Human rights of their victims are not an issue at all, just part of the risks of being law abiding...


(ohhh I'm in a vile mood today...)

I once got involved with a customer making an insurance claim, stating his repairer had stolen his gearbox.
Turned out to be the dodgiest repairer in North London. They weren't actually a repairer of any sort. When I turned up at the location it was a large storage unit full of cars without gearboxes.
They advertised in local papers and Auto trader (some year ago before internet really took off) as gearbox replacements. They would take cars in at customers cost to collect the vehicle and money up front for the reconditioned gearbox. Then 4 months later after the unit was full up with cars that had their gearboxes and other parts removed, the customer would eventually try to find out where there car was and when they would get it back.
We had about 5 customers with their cars in there. It was a large police investigation. They got the culprits. But unfortunately the customers didn't get paid out for the gearboxes. As they had paid for them to be replaced they had entered into a contract and therefore the contract had not been fulfilled. However they did get paid out for any other parts that had been stolen.