Sunday 26 June 2011

VATCo meltdown, the good, the bad and the ugly !

Sadly there isn't much 'good'; its been a pretty bad & ugly week. 

I turned up at VATCo last Wed, expecting to see the FC with her new axle, wheels & towhitch fitted only to find that Pete Ritchie had done a runner with his two showman trailers, ERF towtruck, all his tools and any deposits paid by Airstream or other trailer owners. 
Luckily the landlord (also owed a lot of back-rent) is a really decent guy & very helpful, so we managed to get in and start sorting out the ugly mess.
 
 We've managed to contact all but one of the owners of Airstreams in various states of restoration and they've all been moved off-site
Luckily with the help of Ron, the welder, and Mark, from Cats Hill Plant Hire, I've managed to get the axle, wheels and a temporary hitch onto the old girl. And while I'd much rather be seeing the view of her in my rear view mirror, I'm more than happy to see her out in front for now...
 ... and get her moved to a much safer place.
Despite this nightmare, I don't think Pete was all bad, he'd just seemed to have got himself into a mess financially and rather than stay & sort it, he's taken the cowardly option & run for it. I only wish I'd seen the signs earlier but its always easy to be wise after the event.