Warrington garage leaves customers £60,000 out of pocket

The garage - Crest Motorsport North West Ltd. - closed suddenly in March this year, despite having unfulfilled orders, customers say.

The orders were paid upfront by customers and allegedly amounted to more than £60,000.

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When the garage closed, the company later filed for bankruptcy.

A notice was pinned in the garage itself, and customers have not been able to get in touch with the company's director, Tom Seddon.

In the notice, he apologised to all those affected and said the business could not continue due to the volume of debt.

Instead, an employee had to telephone aggrieved customers to inform them that the work they had paid for would not be undertaken.

This note was left in the garage, explaining the abrupt closure

One customer said: "The people who had cars there, myself included, were the worst affected, I personally lost over £10,000 and there were people who lost even more than me.

"There are also people who just bought stuff from their online store which never turned up."

There is a Facebook group for affected customers, and around 30 people are seemingly owed money back for work that has not been completed.

One customer lives in the United States, and bought motor parts online from Crest's shop.

Mr Seddon himself has since personally filed for bankruptcy, after resigning as company director at the time the company was dissolved.

A customer said that the garage specialised in Japanese cars, but was notorious for low-quality work (Image: Supplied)

Since January 2021, there had been five motions to strike the company off the Companies House register - the company had not filed any of its accounts since opening.

One individual who has been hit by this is Rupert Potter, Director at an unrelated company called 'Crest Motorsport Ltd.' - he said: "Crest Motorsport North West Ltd formed several years after us and started using our strapline as well as our name.

"We frequently received customer service calls relating to their poor service and these intensified after the collapse. Clearly, we have not been as badly affected as their customers who have lost money or vehicles.

"But our reputation has taken a hit as a result of the way they’ve treated their customers and we have had many distressing calls from people who have been badly affected.”

Cheshire Constabulary said the matter is being treated as a civil case, not a criminal one.

Mr Seddon has been contacted for comment.