Customers lose thousands in luxury car dealer collapse

A company specialising in luxury super cars is being placed into liquidation with customers who had entrusted their vehicles to the dealer claiming to be tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Targa Florio Cars near Chichester shut down at the end of December with the forecourt emptied, phone lines disconnected and customers saying there was no way to contact the owner.

Director William Kirkham blamed difficult trading conditions but some customers have accused him of selling their cars without their knowledge and claim they have not yet received the money.

Sussex Police said it was aware of a number of reports involving payment issues over vehicle sales and its enquiries were ongoing.

The dealership sold high performance, executive and classic cars for 16 years from its showroom at Walnut Farm Science Park in Sidlesham.

It also provided a service known as Sale or Return (SoR) in which customers would sign a contract to leave their car with the dealer to sell on their behalf and would receive the proceeds once a sale had been completed.

However, the BBC has heard from multiple SoR customers who claim they discovered via the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that their v5 log book had been transferred to a new owner but had not received payment.

Other customers claim they part exchanged their car but did not receive the full amount.

Kamrul Husan Sumon, a taxi driver from St Albans, changed his mind about keeping a brand new Volkswagen ID.7 and signed a SoR agreement with Targa Florio Cars to sell it for him.

His cousin, Shamim Kabir Chaudhury, had been dealing with the company but said all messages stopped in November and they were notified by DVLA that the v5 logbook had been issued to a new owner in December.

Chaudhury said: "I thought they'd sold the car and they'd contact me to tell me how they'd pay me."

He said he tried to ring but got no answer, thinking the dealership might be closed for Christmas.

"But even after Christmas, no response from them," he said.

Chaudhury visited the site on 30 December, and said he was told by owner William Kirkham that the company would reopen on 5 January.

When he returned he said the site was deserted.

Sumon said he was expecting £32,000 from the sale of the car – money he had borrowed from friends and family.

"Moneywise I feel like I've got nothing at the moment and it's really, really stressful," he said.

"It's kind of affecting me every day mentally, emotionally, financially there's quite a lot of things involved."

Frank and Millie Dowsett from Bognor Regis are still in the dark about what happened.

The couple, both in their late 80s, had an agreement with the dealership to sell their classic Morgan sports car.

WhatsApp messages seen by the BBC show Kirkham told them the sale had been delayed and would go through in the new year.

However searches on the DVLA website confirmed the v5 logbook had been transferred to a new owner on 27 November.

The pair were hoping to use £19,000 from the sale to pay for a private operation for Millie Dowsett.

Frank Dowsett said he was "very annoyed".

"It looked like a fairly substantial company and they'd been around for awhile, so we didn't particularly worry until nothing was happening.

"And then they disappeared and we started to search for them."

His wife added: "I mean we're just not sleeping at night, you know, it's always on your mind."

The BBC had been given a new phone number for Kirkham and tried contacting him for a response.

In a statement issued by his solicitor, Kirkham said the company was being placed into insolvent liquidation.

"This decision has been taken following very difficult trading conditions, including black book realignment, the increase in business rates, national insurance and other business expenses," he said.

"These increases have meant that it is impossible for the business to continue to trade."

He added that he intends to apply for bankruptcy.

But many customers have said they do not believe the company collapsed due to market conditions, they said they feel deceived by Kirkham.

Bradford Law had been stationed with the US air force at Porton Down in Wiltshire and had asked Targa Florio Cars to sell his Volkswagen Touran for him under a SoR agreement ahead of his return to Portland, Oregon in August.

He and his wife had saved for eight years to buy a new car and were relying on the £28,000 agreed sale price to help towards their relocation costs.

WhatsApp messages exchanged in November show Kirkham reassured him the sale was going ahead.

On 12 November Kirkham sent a message saying: "Deposit all received - finance documents signed shouldn't be long now."

Law chased it up and two weeks later on 28 November Kirkham replied: "Aiming to have everything wrapped up by next Friday."

That was the last message he sent.

Concerned, Law searched the DVLA website and found the v5 log book had been transferred to a new owner on 29 December.

He said: "If he sold other people's cars without giving money to them where did that money go that's my big question."

The BBC asked Kirkham to respond to the allegations that customers were left unable to contact him and that cars were sold without their knowledge and without the proceeds of sale being passed to them, but he declined to comment.

Since first publication of this article Law, Sumon and the Dowsett's say they have reached a financial settlement after being contacted by representatives of Kirkham.

• You can contact Katharine Da Costa about this story via southinvestigations@bbc.co.uk

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