Andy Long (Old Haslingden Road) Pre Used Cars - Going by name Adrian - warning lights taped over - paid by bank transfer

[ZukoLentil]

Hello All,

I will say the same as all the rest, I wish I had seen these before buying a car.

I am in my mid 20's and I was looking for my first car.

I saw an advert on auto trader for a Volvo C30 .

got in touch with the advert holder long and behold was given an address to Unit D Old Haslingden Road.

I went with my mum to check it out.

The car looked good, we took it out for a test drive and I bought it there and then.

The MOT history online was "clear" and it all seemed ok for a first car.

I paid 3400 and 40 pounds for delivery to my house. 

The car recently passed an MOT on 22nd December 2023

I bought it on 27th December 2023

A couple days later I was reading the user manual and noticed there should be a user display on the dash to show temperature outside and the digital clock and such. It also allows the user to see any errors,

upon a closer look, it was very well covered up with thick dark/black tape making it almost impossible to see the display should be there.

I took it to my local garage and asked if he could have a look.

He had a look and took the tape off for me and said there is an error code showing up "SRS airbag urgent".

I was told this car should not have passed an MOT and it was definitely done maliciously to cover it up.

My mum got in touch with the guy who told us his name was "Adrian" he said he would get it sorted no problem. We dropped it off with him and he had it for 15 days. Throughout this time we had to constantly chase updates. He never gave an update without chasing. He constantly ignored calls and messages and never told us what was happening with the car or where it was.

It eventually came to the point where we asked for the car back as we have contacted Vovlo and they had recommended a specialist to take it to. He said he would get it dropped back off.... it never came. We chased and he said it wasnt coming and it would the next day, and then the next day and then the next. He then said it was booked in with a transporter to drop the car off.

We then chased again around the time the car was supposed to be dropped off for the 4th day in a row and he said it wasn't with a transporter and he would personally drop it off. We then said if it was not dropped off personally at the specified time, due to 3/4 missed promises we will be reporting it as stolen.

He then came back stating "he doesn't know why we have got the police involved and now that we have he and his staff will not be driving the vehicle anywhere due to it being high risk and the liability of being pulled over" even though we hadn't reported him yet. In hind sight I can now see why he reacted in such a way to police be mentioned.

He then told us to come pick it up ourselves, left outside the front of his bungalow/lot and we picked it up.

(Side note - I was supposed to get a black box installed on the 24th of January but due to the amount of time he had the car I had to delay it, my insurance gave me a 1 off delay until the 6th of February)

As of today it has been dropped off with the volvo specialists and they are investigating the error code/electrical issue. (The car mechanically drives very well) I do not currently know how much this will cost. But I would like to pursue some form of legal action against this man/ person. We have only just discovered these forums today and all these other people he has scammed and done this too.

I can see from previous posts he has gone under the name John , his actual name being Andy Long, having had a CCJ against him. He has been banned off auto trader.  (We have since reported him to autotrader again)

I have seen how people have tried to get the police involved and they are saying its a civil issue, which I cannot fathom how this is civil, this man is stealing/scamming 1000's using false identities and potentially putting peoples lives at risk with selling dangerous cars.

I will be in touch with citizens advice tomorrow, and once I know the cost, I will try and pursue small claims maybe??? I have no idea. This is my first car and I have no experience with such things. Not a great experience, but a good lesson I guess. 

 

Many thanks for any advice/help

[BankFodder]

How did you pay? Did you pay by cash? Did you pay by bank transfer?

[ZukoLentil]

Bank Transfer

[Toadsters]

Hey man,

I'm really sorry you're having to go through this as many others (myself included).

I just sent him the letter before court claim yesterday and will be chasing this further.

This guy is an absolute menace to deal with, he guilt tripped me the same way he did to you telling me that because I banned him from autotrader " he cannot feed his kids and employees and I personally ruined his life". 

 

[ZukoLentil]

Hey Toadsters

this man is a professional victim, a genuine criminal who is potentially getting away with these crimes due to an incident in 2018 which was pretty heavily reported on where police "assaulted him"

 

Innocent dad Andrew Long's terror as late-night police 'bust' goes horribly wrong - LancsLive

WWW.LANCS.LIVE

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Police have apologised after mistaking him for a 'dangerous' offender

 

Baton-wielding police officers swooped on innocent dad-of-two in late night ‘bust’ which went horribly wrong - Mirror Online

WWW.MIRROR.CO.UK

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Andrew Long said he was 'set upon' by four plain clothes officers at a petrol station in Burnley and they caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to his brand new car

 

"I felt like I was going to get killed - the police were attacking my car and smashing it up" - Manchester Evening News

WWW.MANCHESTEREVENINGNEWS.CO.UK

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Dad-of-two Andrew Long feared for his life when police officers swooped on him in a terrifying raid. They'd got the wrong man.

Due to finding those articles I am potentially considering going to the paper/ journalists with this, as much information about this criminal needs to be put out there as possible.

He claims people are "ruining his life" he could literally kill someone some day with this

[Toadsters]

Please do. In the meantime, the address at 118 Haslingden Old Road, there's another guy in the same yard with him as that's not his actual address. His base of operation a.k.a that bungalow does not belong to him. 

It also comes down to what you actually want from this situation. Do you want to keep the car and him pay for the repair costs (under that warranty that he probably promised you?) or return the car for a full refund. Either way you're entitled to whatever you choose, as long as it's within a 30 day period. I can also tell you what citizens advice will tell you, which is:

 

1. Send a letter stating what you want, ideally presenting what the independent service result came with. Give him 14 days to give you back the money or warranty. 

2. He won't respond because he's a piece of doodoo so you'll have to send a final letter before court claim ( which is where i'm at right now, I bought the car from him on the 16th of december ) where you give him another 14 days before legal action. 

By the way, besides the articles where he got whooped by the cops there's others where he bought via his partner a car with finance and sold it and where he bought some cars from a guy ( which i'm sure he knew ) that were actually company cars.

 

 

Edited February 1 by Toadsters

[ZukoLentil]

Yes I have read about this hidden partner.

It seems if you ring the landline number https://www.motors.co.uk/dealers/cars/bamber-cars/97147/ you get through to the bungalow as it is a landline so that makes sense. I assume this is his business partner, then Andy/John/Adrian will get in touch with you directly 

He is has a silver tongue and is very cocky and knows nothing is being done about this so its just going to carry on.

I am positive nothing was being done on my car and even if it was being done he would have just tried to find a cheap quick scam fix to get rid of the code. Probably just sat in the yard for 14 days. I've seen online its not possible to clear this type of code thankfully. The error itself has to be fixed. 

I saw those articles where he was selling company cars too!!! It boggles the mind 

The car itself runs good. I would want the repair costs to be covered so that's probably the route I'll have to pursue. But it all depends on what these specialists find on how I pursue this. I bought mine on the 27th of December.

He had my car from the 17th of Jan until the end of Jan

I'm past my 30 days now I think I'll have lost that right presumably, I assume thats probably why he was holding onto the car for soooo long to draw it out

[dx100uk]

2 hours ago, ZukoLentil said:

I will be in touch with citizens advice tomorrow

chocolate teapot...forget it...

1 hour ago, ZukoLentil said:

I am potentially considering going to the paper/ journalists

utterly useless action.

2 hours ago, BankFodder said:

How did you pay? Did you pay by cash? Did you pay by bank transfer?

 

1 hour ago, ZukoLentil said:

Bank Transfer

oppsss...