Merry Christmas everybody hope your having a good one
Mine was looking glum but had a right touch selling a scrap 1501 dumper to somebody
Crimbo can be a great time to buy too Ross ..... this day 35 years ago I bought one of these .....
had been in the Western Mail for weeks and guy could not sell it ... flew down to Barry with the Old man in the co-pilot's seat (giving the usual instruction/pushing me on, on some nice clear roads) with a mittful of notes for a deal and him to drive me motor back. Had been advertising it at way over the odds at 1800 quid - a LOT back then and I came from there 650 quid lighter, with said siccle. Was mint with 5k on the clock and rode beautifully. Enjoyed it through the following summer and stuck it in MCN in the Autumn ...... they were quite rare and it had a lot of interest ........ a guy from Brum came down and bought it ... did M/c couriering - took 1100 quid off him, did him a receipt, got his details for the green slip and waved it bye bye
... nice result and I'd put a couple of K on the clock over the summer
'Bout five years later ............ get a seven yearly visit from ......... the VAT man ... routine apart from one query and produced an invoice for a TR1 M/cycle on my headed paper
"
What can you tell me about this, it's never appeared in your accounts/returns? "
"
other than the fact that it was nothing to do with the biz, was my private property and if you give me ten minutes to pop home and get a copy of the log book, green slip and the receipt I gave the guy when he bought it, not a lot more "
"
Thought so ... I've been waiting a while to put this one to bed "
This idiot had obviously swiped a headed sheet of paper from me office, with my back turned (bike had been parked at my workshop and he'd come there on a Sunday morning) and created his own invoice with it, claiming 17.5% VAT on a two grand
invoice !!
VAT man left half an hour and a coffee or two later, headed for Brum with a smug grin on his face, for a conversation with said TR1 buyer.
never heard the result, but'd guess the guy got well and truly battered by Mr VAT man and his compatriots
A.n.other Chrimbo eve, a couple of years later I bought one of me 40 footers .. Western mail again ..... advertised as "
slight damage, 500 quid " .... slight damage was
-- it had fallen on its side, loaded with pallets of summat, and had a hell of a dent down its length
... Gave 200 quid for it,
went down Boxing day with me TMS 180 Grove and a borrowed artic, with the old man at the helm of that and fetched it back to my yard. ... some strategically placed pushes on the dents with the crane's jib head, tele-ed in / out and a block of wood, when I got back and 95% of the dent'd disappeared ... still a few odd 'dints' at the door end, but now't to worry about, 30 odd years later
... cheapest box I ever bought
Puts a whole new slant on '
the Christmas sales'
hopefully this next year is a steady one with no big surprises thrown in!!
