A businessman in his 70s has been left devastated after three of his cars were stolen from a trading estate.
Andrew Hall, 72, runs Car Medics, a Frome-based business that until recently sold vehicles through a showroom on Broadway North on Westbury’s West Wilts Trading Estate.
Mr Hall explained that after the company on whose premises he kept his cars went bust in spring of this year, but that he had kept the cars on the premises while he arranged for them to be moved.
The trio that was taken included a Hyundai that belonged to his sister, which she bought for around £10,000 and had given to him to repair, and a Honda Jazz and a Volkswagen Polo both belonging to Mr Hall.
Mr Hall explains that he last saw the cars on Monday, June 1. He had been due to go on holiday to Türkiye, when he suddenly got a call from the hospital, with a doctor informing him he had been booked in at the Royal United Hospital in Bath for surgery he had been waiting for.
On Thursday, June 4, Mr Hall underwent a procedure to remove his gall bladder, and the following day, was sent home to recuperate.
A day later on Saturday, June 6, he got a call from a friend letting him know that his cars were no longer where they had been.
The cars had been tucked in between bollards and the main building, with the Hyundai furthest back – despite the apparent security, Mr Hall said the vehicles “just vanished into thin air.”
Although he does not know who might have taken the vehicles, he has said in his conversations with Wiltshire Police that none of the vehicles had been picked up on ANPR cameras.
This, he believes, indicated that the operation has “got to be someone with a lifting job”.
Worst of all, they were not insured, and he has now been left to recover the vehicles or the costs himself.
According to Mr Hall, after the repairs they were due to receive, the cars would have been worth more than £25,000 taken together.
Now, he says, when he thinks of the missing vehicles, and his sister’s Hyundai in particular, he feels “physically sick”.
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The incident is only the latest in a series of misfortunes, coming after Mr Hall was left without a home when it was repossessed last year when his mortgage rates jumped well beyond his budget.
Having lived for a time in his workshop, Mr Hall now lives in temporary accommodation while he waits to be rehoused.
Although he says he has managed to keep himself from being angry, he said he that he is “really, really worried,” and would like to see his sister’s car returned.
Mr Hall, who says he works as much as 14 hours a day, said: “I’ve really gone through the mill.”
Now, Mr Hall says he needs the public’s help to track the car down, and is appealing to anyone who might know anything to come forward and contact police.
In the event that appeals for more information on the car’s whereabouts lead to a dead end, Mr Hall has also launched a GoFundMe, with the hopes that in the event the cars do not turn up, that he can raise enough money to replace his sister’s car.
Find the GoFundMe page here: https://gofund.me/989a37b74
Wiltshire Police has said they are looking into the incident, and have urged anyone with information about the missing vehicles to get in touch with them.
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: “We are investigating the theft of three vehicles which were being repaired on the West Wiltshire Trading Estate in Westbury.
“The vehicles – a blue Honda Jazz, a red Hyundai Kona and blue Volkswagen Polo - were stolen at some point between June 1 and 6.
“Enquiries are currently ongoing and we’d urge anyone with information to get in touch by calling 101 and quoting crime reference number 54260071887.”
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