Car boot sale returns after nails thrown at site

The new operator of a car boot sale site has thanked everyone who attended its first event, which was earlier postponed after what a "sabotage attempt".

Gloucester Car Boot Sale was due to return under new operators Capital Car Boot Sales on 20 July, but was pushed back to 27 July when thousands of rusty nails were left at the site the day before.

Gloucester City Council said making theHempstead Meadows site safe again cost the taxpayer up to £25,000.

Extra space had to be found for sellers because far more than expected turned up, the council added.

Capital Car Boot Sales expressed its "huge gratitude to all the buyers and sellers" who made the first market a success, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Customers have voted with their feet," the company said.

Casey from Stroud, who attended the car boot, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire: "It's really, really busy, there's loads of sellers, loads of buyers. I've got some books and some clothes for my son."

In a social media post about the reopening, Gloucester City Council said it believed the scattering of nails across the site "may have been a sabotage attempt".

"Gloucestershire Police has appealed for anyone with information or dashcam footage to come forward as soon as possible," the council said.

"As owners of the land, Gloucester City Council has had to spend in the region of £25,000 scaling up security measures, repairing fences and removing the nails from a wide area of the site to make it safe for visitors."

Capital Boot Sales won the tender to run the market after its lease went up for renewal last winter, around the time the city council closed it to have work done on the area.

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