Shock, as vintage cars are scrapped

Wednesday November 30 2011
A GREYSTONES MAN was paid around € 100 for scrapping two ' vintage' cars which did not belong to him, in a malicious scam targeting an elderly man, Bray District Court was told. The rare white Renault TS and the Ford Granada were parked for years in the driveway of a Kindlestown Park house and had a combined value of € 5,000.

The cars were removed from the house by a recycling company on the instructions of Phelim Byrne, 8 Crowe Abbey, Greystones. Byrne had no contact with the elderly owner of the vehicles. Motor mechanic John Mcmullan said that he found out that Leon Recycling had taken the vehicles from where they were parked on the instructons of Byrne who pleaded not guilty to their theft last Friday. Mr. Mcmullan said that he went to visit a sick relative on September 1 2010.

When he returned on September 3 ' the garden was bare'. He said that the disappearance left him totally shocked. ' They were there so long, I had done so much to them,' he said. The Arklow recycling company had dealt with Byrne before without difficulty, so believed that he had the authority to have the cars removed. They have since changed their business practice and require documentation for every collection. The two vintage cars were so badly damaged by being moved that Mr. Mcmullan donated them to a local football club for scrap. '

I never suspected a thing,' said the driver of the van who had collected the cars on the day, adding that Byrne seemed agitated during the transaction. Orville Roche of Leon Recycling explained that Byrne's practice prior to the incident was to call to a household where he saw an end- of- life car and offer to have the vehicle disposed of with the authority of the owner. Leon would then pay him for the weight of the metal. The defence said that it was not Byrne, but Leon Recycling who had appropriated the vehicle.

However, Judge Murrough Connellan did not accept that and said he will convict the defendant. He ordered that a probation report be prepared for January 16 when Byrne will also face charges of assault dating to September 4 at Kenmare Heights. While the facts of the case were not read out in evidence on Friday, the compensation amount for dental work could be as high as € 5,000.