Joyriders in my Zed

[ronk]

If they are the hired hands then have a word with the owner in his office before you post anything more publicly. If those chimps own the establishment I would suspect you’re stuffed!

I had a situation where something went quite wrong in a BMW garage (car wash) and it was sorted to everyone’s satisfaction and no raised blood pressure.

[Deepseaskateboard]

Can you just invoice them for £100 per mile?

Send them an invoice with the video attached.
Ask for remittance immediately.

They will understand the video can be leaked to social media.
Just don’t go there again!

[Deepseaskateboard]

Other option is to contact the local press, and see if they will publish the story.

Perhaps give the garage first refusal on exclusivity for the story, priced at £1000.

[groovy_hippy]

Not quite the same situation, but I was given the wrong medication with my prescription once. Completely the wrong stuff - if I’d taken it in place of what I should’ve had I could’ve croaked it!

Anyway - I had a word with the pharmacist and he was mortified (the colour drained from has face quicker than I don’t know what!). I basically said ‘I realise things are tough at the moment and people make mistakes so don’t worry about it’. I think he knew that I knew I could’ve reported him, but because I didn’t, he was grateful.

So, it may well be worth confronting these guys (albeit I would be absolutely fuming and ready to knock their lights out with that sort of behaviour OP!) and put your cards on the table. Go prepared and know your rights, and be ready to show them the video (which I see had a very clear picture of the name of the outfit!).

Hope it goes OK for you OP and try to remain professional and keep evidence of every communication you have with them.

[keving1]

Heres a link to the first few minutes.
Note the comments like 'f**k this car' etc etc

https://youtu.be/9-VUR7oQJG0

Holy sh*t - 67mph in a 30 zone just after coming out of the garage What other speeds did they get up to?

I'd either confront the owner of the business or contact the police - if they are doing it to your car they must be doing it to other peoples cars

[mr.tourette]

real bunch of charmers eh.. cold engine too.. attitude says it all when one mentioned a tracker "couldn't give a s**t to be honest" scumbags

[sars]

After watching the video I’m at a loss to think why you haven’t contacted the police, there as absolutely no excuse for this behaviour and they deserve everything coming to them. Just think what Vincent Vega would do in your position

I should also add, please look at the bigger picture, can you imagine that a few months later they’ve done something similar but you read in the press that they had an accident and killed a family of four whilst out for the day

[Colin_E]

Wow, such a range of conflicting views here...
My 2p FWIW:
a) I think the police probably WOULD be interested and WOULD convict provided there is no doubt about who is driving. Not so sure if there's any doubt or if they need further evidence. In my experience Plod likes low hanging fruit and this looks like a good chance of conviction(s) for negligible work on their part.
b) A purely personal viewpoint but I wouldn't just walk away and leave it. Some would, but it would irk me to feel that pondlife like this had 'won'. However I would rule out a civil action as too costly & not worth the effort.
c) It's been said already but I think you need to decide upfront whether some sort of financial compensation OR inflicting pain is most important.
d) I think compensation is viable but you need to pick your words carefully, under no circumstances link any failure to cough up on their part to other 'consequences' and perhaps have a mate to witness the conversation in case they try to turn anything against you. If you want to take this route, I'd perhaps emphasise the wear & tear on costly tyres & probable maintenance costs down the line from ragging a highly tuned engine from cold to support the principle that you've suffered a loss albeit one that's hard to quantify right now - rather than just 'profiteering'
e) Maybe the biggest damage you can do them is via online reviews, social media & the local press. Also any trade bodies or accreditations - are they for example AA approved? I suspect they might lose that kind of thing if AA (or whoever) saw your video. BUT beware falling foul of libel laws. There have been a few cases lately where bad businesses have sued and won against a negative review - basic rule is don't say anything you can't substantiate.
f) I doubt that your fear of retribution is justified. You say they might see your car around and scratch it ...but do they know for sure whether your dashcam records video whilst parked? They may not be the sharpest tools but risking being caught on camera AGAIN whilst inflicting criminal damage would surely be senseless.
g) I think maybe I'd show them just a little of your recorded footage. Don't reveal all your evidence. Let them sweat over what they said or did. It's entirely possible that they'll fear that you have something even more damning than you do.

Good luck whatever you choose to do

[Nictrix]

Did they actually call your car a piece of s**t after saying f**k this car?

[firebobby]

Did they actually call your car a piece of s**t after saying f**k this car?

Sounds like it, they don't give a flying fook about your car op.
They are screwed as far as evidence of speeding, just from that piece of video.
The ball is in your court now

[Zed Baron]

The car only went in for a small piece of paintwork, its shouldn't have been on the road at all (no road test excuse here). What if the car had been involved in an accident?, how many other cars are they road testing to make sure the paint stays on? If they continue with this reckless behaviour and someone gets hurt and then it transpires that lots of other people knew of their actions prior and did nothing.

[Deepseaskateboard]

Publish the full video to YT and send a link to the police.

Fk these guys, they sound like they need a proper bollocking.

[Huzee4]

A friend of mine reported an episode of dangerous driving to their local police providing dash cam footage as evidence and a prosecution was brought. At the time the police commented that it was important that the footage had been supplied within 14 days of the offence.

You’ve described being able to see who was driving, the speeds they reached and the manner in which the car was driven. All of that will be sufficient for the police to bring multiple charges against the people involved if that is the outcome you feel would be appropriate.

Excellent observation the 14 days is imperative in order to serve NIP’s (notice of intended prosecution) for motoring offences

[tiglon]

Yeah watching the clip makes it feel a lot worse, I'd be pretty p1ssed off to say the least!

After I had calmed down, I might be tempted just to call the owner of the garage and ask him what he thinks you should do with the footage. Depending on the humility of his response, I might then be tempted to take it to the police - although based on personal experience I wouldn't expect a huge amount of interest from them.

I 100% would never take a car back there, those people are completely devoid of any respect for you or your property.

[Colin_E]

I see that they have a Facebook page. I wonder how the guy who took his Aston Martin Vantage there would feel if he saw this?