10:36 am, October 12, 2022
Car Dealer likes to stay on top of the news in the UK – but there are also headlines from other parts of the world that we feel deserve a domestic audience.
Here’s our latest roundup of what has caught our eye from around the globe recently.
Dealer ‘kidnapped and robbed by gunmen wearing fatigues’
- Uganda
A car dealer was allegedly kidnapped by gunmen in military fatigues then robbed and dumped.
The incident is said to have happened in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District, Kampala.
Metropolitan Police deputy spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire was quoted as saying: ‘We have talked to the victim and we are investigating an offence of aggravated robbery against the armed men. We are yet to identify the suspects and bring them to book.’
It is not known how much was taken or if the dealer suffered any injuries.
(Source: Monitor)
Horrific forklift accident leads to fine
- Australia
A dealership in Seymour, Victoria, has been fined AUS$40,000 (circa £23,000) and told to pay AUS$5,635 (£3,240) costs following a forklift accident that saw an employee suffering bleeding on the brain and skull fractures.
Beer Motor Car Traders Pty Ltd, trading as Neil Beer Seymour, admitted failing to maintain a safe system of work but wasn’t convicted.
The worker had been trying to free a jam under a suspended heavy vehicle transmission, which was being moved by the forklift, when he became trapped.
He also suffered nerve damage to an eye socket and eye, Seymour magistrates were told.
(Source: Shepparton News)
Dealership worker charged with elaborate $1.3m theft
- USA
A man has been accused of stealing more than $1.3m (circa £1.17m) from the dealership in New Jersey where he worked.
Martin L D’Amato has been charged with money laundering and theft, with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office alleging that he used a false advertising agency as part of the intricate scheme.
The 37-year-old was arrested and held in custody at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River pending a detention hearing. The dealership wasn’t named.
(Source: Patch)
Woman falls down sinkhole outside showroom
- USA
A woman had a lucky escape when she fell down a sinkhole that suddenly appeared outside a used car dealership in North Carolina.
Kia Long-Gyant had just come out of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, where her car was being detailed, when the hole – about 8ft deep and 15ft wide – opened up.
Winston-Salem firefighters rescued her and she was taken to hospital, having suffered bruises and scrapes but fortunately no broken bones.
Dealership owner Tracy Myers said a collapsing underground pipe was believed to have led to the ground opening up.
(Source: WRAL News)
Four cars swallowed up at lot
- Canada
Three dealership cars and a customer’s vehicle disappeared down another sinkhole – this time outside Infiniti South Edmonton in Alberta.
Luckily, nobody was in the cars, which suffered mostly cosmetic damage.
The dealership’s general manager declined to comment, but Dale Jackson, from recovery company Cliffs, said: ‘There’s obviously some water that escaped underneath the ground and too much weight.’
(Source and image credit: Global News)
