Classic Car Interior Destroyed in Fire at the Reupholstering Company

[spinningfish]

Morning all

Back in June 2020, I dropped my (extremely rare!) classic car seats to a specialist retrimmer in Baldock called A&R Pound. They are very highly regarded and have been there forever - I remember my dad using them, when he was a mechanic, back in the 80s.

The place is very old school and very heavily over subscribed with work - the place was literally floor to ceiling with various car seats and material. A quick look on Google will show you that there is no website, mobile numbers or emails.

The car required restoration, so there was no hurry on my part, so I dropped the interior and reproduced fabric off, they put my details in their diary, quoted me the price and I was on my way.

I called periodically, out of interest, to see how they were getting on and the seats were never started, but like I said, there was no hurry.

The restoration of the car has moved on to the point that I could do with the interior before Spring 2024, so two days ago I gave them a call to ask whether they could finished around the end of January.

No one answered the landline initially, but then a mobile number called me back. I explained to the man (who wasn't the owner, Fred) that I had some seats there and was wondering whether they could be done by the end of January. He abruptly replied, "impossible". I thought they're probably a bit snowed under still, so I asked when he thought they might be able to get them done and the reply was, "Never. The unit burned down five months ago." I was completely dumbstruck and didn't really know what to say. All he could say was "Sorry about that." and he put the phone down.

Link to News Report: Major Fire at Baldock Industrial Estate

I completely sympathise with their situation. I can't imagine losing such a long-established business in such a devastating way, but I am now without a very rare and hard to replace interior, not to mention the reproduction fabric that was only made on a very limited run and can't be bought anymore.

I have had a conversation with a couple of the members of the owners club and buying a bare bones interior, in poor condition, if I can even find one, will at least cost me £1,500. I don't even know whether I'm going to be able to request a run of the reproduction fabric and what the minimum cost of that will be.

The biggest problem I have is that because the business was so old school, I don't have any evidence that I ever left the interior there. My details were in the diary in the workshop, which I can only assume went up in flames, which is why no one has contacted me within the last five month since the fire.

All I have to show that I ever owned the interior, is the Facebook conversation with the person I bought it from. I also have a Google Maps timeline to show that I went to A&R Pound on that date to drop it off. The owner Fred always remembered my interior when I called, but I have no way of contacting him and the person I spoke to was very dismissive.

Apart from the very obvious lessons learned here, is there anything I can do to be financially recompensed to replace what has been lost?

Many thanks in advance!!

[Nicky Boy]

Just googled them and I'm alittle confused...

There are reviews on the business literally dated a week and two weeks ago??

[spinningfish]

How bizarre! One of the kids is going to a birthday party in a town nearby on Sunday. I might see if I can pop up and have a look.

 

See the bottom paragraph of this article: BBC