Ever found
yourself on the runway of a developing nation’s airport about to
repossess some long-sought asset, only to be surrounded by a
private militia wielding former Soviet machine
guns?
Perhaps you’ve
turned up at a premises in Middlesbrough to collect a car only to
be threatened with grievous bodily harm by a former client turned
menacing Neanderthal.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Whatever your
Collection Nightmare we at Leasing Life are looking for
the worst repossession tales from anywhere in Europe for this diary
page, so get in touch if you have a horror story worth sharing, or
perhaps a leasing myth that you’ve heard.
We look forward to sharing
your woes.
Michael
Dempsey, partner with The Finance Partnership, returns
eagerly for a second stint on the Collections Nightmares couch
having terrified us all with a tale of Volkswagen repossession in
Harrogate in May.
Dempsey’s pupils
begin to dilate as he returns again to the wilds of Yorkshire in
the 1980s, this time to Leeds.
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By GlobalDataThose readers with
knowledge of West Yorkshire, further still of Leeds and of that
noble city’s northern suburb Chapeltown, may recall that the 1980s
was a volatile time for the district, hosting three riots in twelve
years, and perhaps not always an opportune time to repossess the
prized assets of the town’s denizens.
Alas, our brave
story teller found himself responsible for recovering a car in the
area immediately after one the decade’s more destructive race
riots.
Not intending to be
outnumbered should anything untoward go down, Dempsey arrived with
two brothers-in-arms.
“Three of us went
to assist,” he recalls, “but nobody answered the door.”
Emboldened by their
numbers and with a hardy northern determination one would expect,
the trio persisted in knocking. “Eventually somebody came to the
window shouting and screaming at us.”
“This alerted the
neighbours who all came out to see what was happening,” says
Dempsey, shuddering with the sort fear only 1980s fashion could
instil.
Rather outnumbered
despite previous caution and feeling much like a big game hunter
surrounded by a pack of velociraptors might feel in roughly 13
years time, Dempsey felt vulnerable.
“Fearing for our
safety my colleague phoned the police. Ten minutes later about six
police cars came with sirens blaring and we were told to leave the
area immediately.
“We nearly started
another riot.”
Thankfully for our
friend from the north history had no need to record the Great
Repossession Riot of 1982.
The haunted
woods of South Milford
Unfortunately for Dempsey, there
is more horror in twentieth century Yorkshire than in a
particularly dark eighteenth century German forest called
wirklichbeängstigendwald and he bravely recalls another nightmare
for the edification of us all.
“On a regular call
to South Milford in the sticks of Yorkshire I used to collect cash
from an arrears customer who had two rather intimidating Rhodesian
Ridgeback dogs,” groans Dempsey.
“Dogs bred for
baiting lions.”
Like many a
terrifying goblin in a grizzly gothic tale, this particular
customer kept himself to himself down a lonely dirt track off the
main road far from the society he had shunned in favour of learning
the dreadful mysteries of the night with only his hellhounds for
company – or he liked the quiet solitude of the contemplative
country air and the odd bit of poaching on the side.
Nonetheless, the
isolation always made Dempsey cautious despite the fact the
customer always seemed to pay without fuss.
Until
now.
“On this one
occasion he must have been a little grumpy,” recollects
Dempsey.
“He came to the
door with a shotgun pointed at me and the two dogs growling at
me.”
Perhaps there had
been a misunderstanding; could our hero have been mistaken for the
noble huntsman prophesised to bring baleful destruction on the head
of this malevolent hermit?
I should be able to
clear this up without too much trouble, thought Dempsey.
“He said that I
could have no more money as long as I had a hole in my
arse.”
Ah.
“I took the cowards
route and left as quick as I could while trying to maintain some
dignity. The case went straight to legal,” says Dempsey.
You are no coward
sir and we thank you for sharing your tales of woe.
Got a Collection Nightmare? Contact: grant.collinson@vrlfinancialnews.com
