1:00 pm, July 6, 2026
Car salesman Tom Bowles had hoped his dealership would reopen months after 20 of his cars were damaged by a falling wall, but 12 months later nothing has changed at the site.
Bowles owns Sittingbourne-based T Bowles Vehicle Sales, which backs on to the town’s Lidl supermarket. On July 2, 2025, the dividing wall between its car park and his dealership came down onto the cars and remains there today.
He explained to Kent Online that he was now taking odd jobs and working as a mechanic, as he wouldn’t reopen the site until the dispute was solved.
Bowles said: ‘A year later and I am still stuck with this. I am still paying rent, rates and insurance on the dealership.
‘We are trying to support ourselves [as an independent business], but it proves in this day and age that it does not pay to get on in life.’
Due to the damage, 12 of the 20 cars were written off and it is estimated to have caused £120,000 in damage.
However, Bowles explained that his insurer has offered him only £40,000 following in investigation into who actually owns the wall.
He told Kent Online: ‘I have not taken the insurance offer because it would be a substantial loss and I would still be left with a wall which has fallen down and rubble.
‘As soon as I move anything, I will be taking responsibility. Lidl made these promises that it would sort it and it has not.
‘I will not be giving up without a fight. I will wait them out longer than they will wait me out.’
He now believes that the full cost to his business has been more than £400,000.
A spokesperson for Lidl GB told the local paper: ‘We want to see a swift resolution to this matter and are doing everything we can to ensure the boundary wall is safely, properly and permanently repaired.
‘We remain fully committed to collaborating with local stakeholders to achieve this.’
