A Bidfood A delivery truck backed into my car outside my house in January. Bidfood used the services of a fleet management company, SMSorganize repairs and provide a rental car. I haven't received any significant updates from VMS since then. When I call, the manager assigned to my case is unavailable and promised return calls are not being made. In the meantime, I have received five Penalty Notices (PCNs) for unpaid tolls in Ulez (ultra-low emission zone), indicating that my car was being driven without my knowledge.
BN, Brighton
Thus begins one of the most unusual cases I have ever investigated. Shortly thereafter I received an almost identical complaint from North Carolina in Hertfordshire. In June, her car was damaged by a truck belonging to food wholesaler Bidfood.
VMS, which is contracted by Bidfood to record claims and manage repairs following such incidents, towed it and provided a rental vehicle. Like B.N., she is still waiting for news of his return and must continue making monthly payments on a personal contract for a car that she does not have access to. “I experienced radio silence from VMS,” she writes.
This is where the story gets dark. I discovered that both vehicles were delivered by VMS to contract repair shop Cobra Coachworks in Kent. The repairs were completed on time and paid for.
Since then, they, along with approximately 23 other vehicles, have been held there for ransom due to an unrelated commercial dispute between Cobra and VMS.
How should I know? Because VMS and Cobra readily told me.
Cobra managing director Greg Ebeling said he refuses to release them because of money he claims VMS owes for unrelated contracts. He added that he also retains a further 23 vehicles brought by VMS on behalf of other clients, including Iceland.
VMS confirmed this figure but did not tell me how many of them belonged to members of the public. Iceland declined to comment.
According to VMS, Cobra is seeking payment of a £189,000 debt that has nothing to do with the vehicles, but has not provided evidence of any debt.
VMS, to which Bidfood pays rent for the cars it provides to affected owners from its fleet, appears to have taken a surprisingly cavalier approach to the saga.
He had a lawyer write a letter to Cobra demanding the return of the BN and NC cars the day after I intervened last month, and only then did he seem to decide to increase the rate. The lawyer told me, “We emphasized that our client may be forced to seek an injunction to release the vehicles and that any individual alleged financial dispute should be dealt with in accordance with normal court procedures and protocols, rather than using the vehicles as leverage.”
What is surprising is that Bidfood states that she was not informed of NC's case until August, a month after her car was repaired and paid for, and was not aware of BN's predicament until I alerted her in September.
“VMS Global experienced unacceptable delays and delays in vehicles due to disputes with the garages they engaged to carry out repairs,” the statement said. “These concerns were not communicated to us as they should have been. Given the unacceptable service that both members of the public and Bidfood received, we have terminated our relationship with VMS Global.”
The company said it would continue to work with VMS to secure the release of the two vehicles and advised owners of the vehicles to report them to police as stolen. Police told both of them it was a civil matter.
What about the PCNs issued by BN for Ulez's unpaid expenses while his car was in Cobra's possession?
Ebeling, who told me that all vehicles were “safely stored,” said the Ulez camera rattles near the entrance to the premises where vehicles are picked up and therefore incurs a fine every time they are caught parking after hours.
But why do five PCNs show that the car is B.N. was recorded in different parts of London: in Tooting, North Finchley and a housing estate. Ebeling, who paid the fines, did not respond.
Ebeling promised VMS and me that both cars would be returned two weeks ago. This is wrong.
B.N. finally got my car back a week ago, nine months after it was taken, with 46 extra miles on it.
NC promised it this week, but on the day of delivery they reported that Cobra had lost the keys. It was returned the next day.
Both drivers suspect that without the press's intervention they would still be waiting.
