Heaver Garage - Please help Post Reply

[headshrinker]

Update: have reported to the police online and also made a post on Next Door to see if there are more victims. Quite determined to stop him trading ASAP.

[Purl Kids]

If anyone else on here affected by this would like to coordinate and try to stop Usman from doing this any more, please PM me. 

at the very least, please report him to the CAB using the kink I posted above.

Hello Headshrinker, please kindly DM me.

[gkcavendish]

I will DM you with my experience.

[Overwhelmed]

Overwhelmed wrote:
Hello, so sorry to see so many people have been having similar experiences here - nightmare, I'm in a disaster of my own. Was wondering if anyone managed to reach resolution with any of the avenues they went down or have their tickets revoked? Ours have passed appeal dates, we were assured they would be sorted.... want to know if there's anything we can do.
Thank you so much.

[headshrinker]

Just to update Overwhelmed and others...

I have been in touch with my local Councillor (Normal Marshall) and sent him a compilation of complaints and comments. He has been in touch with Trading Standards who have attempted to visit but the garage was closed on several attempts. He explained that they did not have the power to close down businesses but that they are aware of the issue and are looking at any route they can to deal with this. TBH, I have been busy with other things so haven't chased him up so will do this ASAP 

He recommended pursuing a claim through Small Claims Court which I have done but not heard anything as yet. I have also appealed all my parking tickets but not heard back about them either.

Other people in a similar position have also filed court claims and won but I don't know if he has paid up or not. The best result I have heard of re parking tickets is that they reduced the fines to the original cheaper price as the owners didn't get the chance to pay within the 2 week window. Again, as I said, I have appealed mine but not heard back. It's kind of outrageous that the same council that is failing to take action against him is issuing the parking tickets and i would encourage everyone going through this to point that out to them. 

Please, please keep reporting him to CAB/Trading Standards/Local Councillors/MPs/Police and anyone else you can think of. If anyone gets any different response, please reply on here to keep people updated!

[ronangel]

I have no personal experience of this but may I suggest that people do not use the garages services until it is sorted out and a notice posted outside the garage to this effect promising to take full responsibility for any tickets issued on cars in their care,and paying the owner full amount upon production of the ticket.

[jinkazama]

Headshrinker, how do we DM each other on here

[headshrinker]

Hey all, apparently Usman has been evicted from the garage. Guess he wasn't paying his rent either. 

On a personal note I won my CCJ but can't get any money back now as I only have his business address and he's not there any more. On a positive note, the council cancelled most of my parking fines so that is a help. 

I am just happy he can't rip off anyone else round here for a bit. 

[gemima]

Well done Headshrinker!

[J29]

Hello please get in contact with me I will help you as he has done the same thing to me & it is best to build a case up together. I will be taking it to a small claims court & I am shocked this guy is still operating after how much people he has screwed over people. I will support you or anyone else that has gone through the same thing please email me at mrjhope @ live .co .uk & reference ‘Heaver Muppet’ in the subject box

[headshrinker]

Hi just got the following response from Trading Standards:

Over the last few months I have visited the garage, sent letters and left telephone messages with a view to discussing the complaints received with the business owner and ensuring that the garage was compliant with consumer protection legislation in future, but had no replies. Unfortunately the person there, Mr Umer, who described himself to me as the manager, not the owner, subsequently appears from later checks to have been the owner.

Last month I visited the garage again and found a man there changing the locks. He stated he was the landowner and that Mr Umer had gone away, leaving a considerable sum in unpaid rent, and confirmed what I had come to suspect from other checks that Mr Umer was indeed the business owner. Mr Umer seems to have 'done a runner'.

I have reviewed all the information I have, together with the checks I have already carried out to establish Mr Umer's whereabouts. Unfortunately I have not been able to find his current home address and do not believe I will be able to do so.  I understand from the garage landlord that Mr Umer may have recently moved from what I believe was his home address, which I obtained from his bank, and I have had no further confirmation he is still there, or of a forwarding address, despite trying to get this over the last few weeks. 

On this occasion I am unable to progress the investigation any further and will close the complaint file. I have however made an entry regarding this matter on a national trading standards intelligence database, so that if Mr Umer begins to trade elsewhere and comes to the attention of trading standards, any colleagues nationally will be able to find the record by searching the database, see the history and act appropriately, as well as alert me.


Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.


It seems he has moved on so there is no way of claiming anything back from him (TBH his list of debts was so long it was doubtful anyone else would see any compensation). If you have lost money then I am really sorry, I share your pain, but it feels good that he is no longer operating in this area. I also feel like the pressure on him from people connecting on here and other sites played a big part in his downfall so to everyone who shared their story, just know that it helped stop him hurting others so some good has come out of this. 

[triflemonster]

Thanks so much, @Headshrinker. He owes me around £300 and so if he does ever come back to life it would be very helpful to know so I could chase it. I do have an address for him, in Streatham, but I'm guessing that's the one that he's left.

He did his 'runner' while my car was being fixed (and in parts). He also flit with my key. Thankfully I had a spare and was finally, with the help of another victim, able to gain access to the workshop and grab enough bits of my car for another mechanic to fix the thing up. Which was all rather expensive, but at least I have my car.

I keep an Apple Airtag on the car key and so I then played an extended game of cat-and-mouse tracking Umer down over about a week or so. Finally I was alerted he was in Specsavers and I pounced on him during an eye test. However it wasn't him, but another guy who Umer appears to have given all his keys to. I wonder if it was with a view to selling them to car thieves or if this gentleman was a car thief himself. It was all rather dramatic 'You've got my car key' 'No I haven't' 'When I press this button your bag will start to ring...' and it did and he handed it over. 

All so dodgy. 

He had a Monzo and Halifax bank account, they must know his whereabouts? I'd love my £300 back...

[gemima]

Brilliant and brave, Triflemonster!  I'm so impressed.