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Joyriders in my Zed

M

mcbutler

Senior member
Plymouth
Hi all,

Need advice.

Took my car in to have a tiny paint scrape sorted at a paint shop I have used many many times.
As an impulse I decided to photograph the cars mileage as I parked it and then again when I left with it repaired.
Surprisongly the car had covered around 4.5 miles when I got it back!!!!
So, I decided to download the dash cam footage. I was shocked and angry to see two wankers from the garage (one was the boss) ragging my car around the country lanes at times exceeding 80 - 90mph, also sliding it out of the entrance to the business park!!!

Not too sure how to proceed with this, is it a legal/police issue? Would he be insured?
If I do have him prosecuted then no doubt somewhere along the line my car will be scratched when he sees it somewhere.
Should I just go back and say give me the £200 for the job back and we'll call it quits...
Not sure what is best option.

Do we have any qualified legal bods here who can coment???
 
Blimey :o

I have picked up car from a service with temp guage at max. Hope the legal eagles will be along soon 8)
 
Wow Mark, that’s shocking.
I would imagine that the garage has a traders insurance policy so would be covered to drive it, although they certainly didn’t have your permission to take it and rag it round the country roads so there’s grounds for prosecution, and the dash cam footage could lead to dangerous driving and speeding prosecution’s, I also know what you mean about possible repercussions.
Personally I think I’d go and confront the boss and see what he has to say. If you can get your money back it would at least be some compensation.
You could also slag the garage off on social media.
 
Leave a negative google review a the very least and/or share the footage to youtube citing the Traders name.
Traders rely on reputation and this would no doubt ruin him if savvy clients saw how they are willing to mis-treat customer cars.
 
They had no right to take your car out on a test drive, they were doing a small bodywork repair.
Not mechanical work that needed testing.
I would speak to the boss, say the car was spotted being driven dangerously, see what he says.
Then back it up with the dashcam if he denies it.
Say you can go to the police with the evidence, see what he comes up with then.
Then name and shame them
 
Chris_D said:
Keep up Frederick, one of the joyriders WAS the boss.
:poke:
:evil:
Click to expand...
And?
I did see that Christopher :poke:
Doesn't stop MCB approaching him and asking the question, see what he comes back with.
:P
 
I think you need to decide what outcome you want and start from there....

A) Justice to be done (or)
B) To be compensated in some way, such as the job being done for free

If there is sufficient dashcam evidence and there is no doubt about who is driving the vehicle then, regardless of the fact that they are driving the vehicle without your consent, the police can prosecute for a number of things such as reckless driving, exceeding the speed limit and probably driving without insurance - not 100% sure but I think they need your permission to use the vehicle in order for their policy to cover them.

Many home contents insurance polices have free legal advice and it’s not just limited to house related matters. Maybe have a look at your policy and give them a call.

I’m not a legal expert, but I believe you need to be careful here that you don’t ‘propose’ a course of action that could be considered blackmail or whatever the legal phrase is.
 
I had an Audi R8 I took to an indy shop. They did 60 miles in it and had the cheek to leave it running in vapour in the tank......
 
When I worked in the trade we had a valeter who Kindly would offer the workshop help to lock up at night... but always making sure he tucked something decent down the next side road. He was caught when a customer noticed 200 miles on his speedo, he'd used it the night before for a jolly down to Brighton with his girlfriend. I was at another garage where the valeting was done off site and out of view, one of the valeters use to take great enjoyment burning out back tyres on a large metal plate at the offsite entrance. Well that was the 80's early 90's, looks like things haven't improved.
 
True-Blue said:
I think you need to decide what outcome you want and start from there....

A) Justice to be done (or)
B) To be compensated in some way, such as the job being done for free
Click to expand...
Agreed.
Firstly I would call the local cop shop and explain the situation; see what they say. Then you can decide your next course of action either with or without their support.
I don't blame you for being livid BTW :x
 
Ahhh man :cry: that is like my worst nightmare , i would be bouncing off the ceiling .
The problem is can you really be bothered to go to any great lengths in order to feel better about it .
Getting the £200 back wouldn't satisfy me :( & asking the police would only split my kipper even more as they are likely to show zero interest .
Is the garage purely paintshop or offer other services too ?
 
mr wilks said:
Ahhh man :cry: that is like my worst nightmare , i would be bouncing off the ceiling .
The problem is can you really be bothered to go to any great lengths in order to feel better about it .
Getting the £200 back wouldn't satisfy me :( & asking the police would only split my kipper even more as they are likely to show zero interest .
Is the garage purely paintshop or offer other services too ?
Click to expand...
Yep paint/bodywork only - on reflection they must be insured as cars for work are parked on a public space and any accidents like fire in the workshop would need to be covered. Some business insurance is mandatory I do know...
 
A lot of ideas here fellas, thank you. The one that really caught my attaention is that asking him for the £200 back to 'forget it' might be construed as blackmail! So, I would need to approach him maybe by email or simila, telling him what I know and what he wants to do about it. If he offers the refund when I ask that simple question then he admits guilt and offers recompense.

Sound reasonable?

What a pain, I really don't need all this shite.
 
A sad but not uncommon tail. :( If you go back to the garage and ask for any money back, based on the evidence you have. Then the garage will have grounds to drop you in it, if you then take that evidence to the police. Guess it's either put up or shut up, unfortunately. Going back to the garage is not going to get you anything but more grief, would be my thoughts. Either take the evidence to the police and leave them to deal with the garage or walk away. :(
 
Don’t say a word.

Simply send the footage to the boss in via putfile with the title of “explain this”

Then, see what he says.
 
I agree with 1000rr
Let them try to explain being caught red handed.
They need to know that you are aware of how they treat paying customers property.
 
FWIW....

You can’t escalate the issue as the boss was involved.

As you say if you don’t want your car keyed and they are local to you then confrontation is unlikely to have an acceptable outcome.

Police won’t touch it for several legal reasons, plus even if those issues didn’t exist it’s de minimus

Personally I’d just play the long game.

Keep a copy of the video footage for the ‘if’ event..along with copies of your post here.

Take your car quietly away.

Then whenever you can personally not recommend them to friends / acquaintances/ anyone else citing your experience.

From someone who has done a lot of civil litigation...
 
I’m not justifying what they’ve done in anyway, it’s out of order and I’d be tamping....

But, if there’s no physical damage to the car as a result of their short (but fast) excursion, and you’d have been none the wiser if it wasn’t for the dash cam footage ...then no harm seems to have been done.

If you’ve not owned the car from new then any of the previous owners could have driven the car in a similar, or even less sympathetic, manner for a lot longer than the few minutes they were out in it.

I realise I’m stating the obvious, but thinking logically rather than emotionally is probably better for your blood pressure here.

I guess the question is ‘how much stress and potential grief do you want to expose yourself too?’

I’d send a polite email, explaining that you have been using them for years and you are really disappointed by what you saw on the dash cam footage after collecting the car. I’d say that I was happy to provide a copy of the footage, but that I’m certain you know what I’m referring to and ask politely for ‘an explanation and their thoughts...’ or words to that effect.

Hopefully they’ll realise you’re being reasonable and not threatening to post stuff all over the internet about them and common sense will prevail. I’d be bloody embarrassed if it was me and I was caught, I’d be apologetic and realistically I’d offer a refund as a gesture of goodwill.... in reality he has more to lose than you and you’ve done no wrong... and hopefully he should realise that.
 
What you have described and have evidence of is taking the car without consent,(TWOC) and you have 4 choices.

Report to the Police as it is a criminal offence. Outcome would be a charge, guilty plea perhaps a fine but loss of his business as after the case and resulting publicity nobody will use them. As you point out however there may be consequences for you.

Report to Trading Standards which will result in the above but should take less time.

Challenge the owner with the evidence and see what they say about a refund. If he tells you to sod off then you may have to consider the above or just do nothing and don't use them again warning everyone you can about them.
 
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