Workshop Fire - WTF?!?

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Well, I got in from work last Sunday to a phone call from my workshop landlord saying that it was on fire. Me laughing said 'yeah, right' and when he said 'no you need to come quick' we took off at the speed of light knowing our '72 crossover RHD sunroof deluxe microbus was in there (and my sister-in-law's beetle).

This is an example of how it looked (only pic I've got):

This is how it looks now:

The fire had actually started in the workshop next door to us and it's spread through.

The upstairs of the building was hit worst, but that's where we kept all our parts - deluxe parts that we'd collected to put the van back together, including all the rear seats. Most of these have been fire, smoke or water damaged

The van, unfortunately, has come off the worst as it was parked up under the mezzanine floor which was covered in crap from the previous tenants and which has burnt through onto the top of the van and what with the fire brigade going in with their hoses, everything got soaked too.

Been up to see the damage on the van this morning now we can get in, but it's completely wrecked. The roof took most of the impact and it's swollen and cracked - the sunroof has burnt and bent and there's water in the back where the sunroof slides back - we'd only just cleared all the drains out, but we couldn't get one of the back ones clear - that's holding water now and we can't get it out... it's just going to rot through

The van wasn't insured as it wasn't yet registered in this country and I've lost £1000's in tools, so this week has been really **** for us and I don't think there's a happy ending

Hoping to try and claim something from either the tenant next door or the landlords... watch this space

 

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Suppose there's a couple of good things though - we weren't in there and we'd just MOT'd the '64 1500s Notch so that came out the day before :shock:

 

[noddy]

Start talking to a solicitor, find out where you stand legally. Last thing you want is some wide boy fobbing you off with a load of crap.

I would have thought your van and tools would be covered by there insurance assuming they have some.

Good luck with things,I hope you manage to get a good pay out, tell them there was a schwimmwagen in there thats melted away to nothing

 

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Unfortunately, the guy next door wasn't insured... spoke to a solicitor this week and they've advised us to persue him personally, but he's got nothing - we can but try.

Landlords want to speak to us when their insurance comes through so gonna see if we can get something that way - they not been bad so far and they got over £250k to claim for!!

Like the Schwimmwagen idea!!! :lol:

 

[Fraggle]

**** sorry to hear about this fella, hope you manage to get up and running again soon.

 

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**** sorry to hear about this fella, hope you manage to get up and running again soon.

Cheers fella,
to be honest with if i don't get any insurance money i think thats me out of the bus scene because i'll never be able to afford doing it all again, but i have had lots of fun and good memories over the years and met loads of cool people many from this site.

 

[Rusty Lee]

man i really do feel for you mate that really is a kick in the balls.hope things work out for you mate i really do.

 

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man i really do feel for you mate that really is a kick in the balls.hope things work out for you mate i really do.

cheers dude, we're absolutely gutted

 

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The journey so far:
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9921" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Hilly_70]

**** jim .. That's bad mate ..

Really sorry to hear it .. But like you say, your safe ..

If there's anything I can do to help just ask ..

Hilly

 

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**** jim .. That's bad mate ..

Really sorry to hear it .. But like you say, your safe ..

If there's anything I can do to help just ask ..

Hilly

Cheers mate, much appreciated

 

[Clem]

Its my worst nightmare. Im gutted for you.

 

[Gadget Boy]

Having spoke to Racheal an James tonite for well over an hour on the phone , I can tell you that they are truly gutted about this whole mess .Not only have they lost their bus that james and Rach have both worked hard on ,James has lost nearly all his 14 year collection of personal workshop tools ,sockets ,welders,grinders and everything else that is ruined by fire and water .

And No there bus wasnt insured as Its an unregistered import and No insurance company would cover it for more than 4 weeks

I personally Dont know if i could carry on after all that has happened if it was me .......

Now i have spoken to them both and got them to look on the positive side, so they can make a list and try and recover whatever is salvagable from this mess . I believe the plan of action is to try and sell off as much as they have left to try and get some money back towards their next bus . SO if anyone wants Bus body cuts /chassis cuts, a mint front axle and mint RHD slider etc plus mint front doors luckily the passenger side got away with it as it seems the main part was the roof of the bus . Front wheel arches are mint so are complete rear corners etc etc . So basically PM them with your requirements Folks and Lets see if we can Help two very unfortunate individuals out .

Gadget

 

[steve92]

a sad story hope everything works out for you both.

 

[luke]

i cant imagine how you must feel, im sure this is every bus owners worst nightmare

 

[easy]

Sorry to hear that doods, hope all gets sorted okay. 8)

 

[faux]

I'm really sorry to hear about this, but I hope you can come back from this. It is always good to have a goal and that could be, as Deano says, salvage as much as you can and sell it on to get some cash back.

It may be worth starting a thread in the ' Parts for sale' section, and us Earlybayers can forward anyone in need of parts in that direction.

Get a list up and let us help as best we can

Jon

 

[baron]

OMG, absolute fvecking nightmare, what a bus to burn, nevermind the rest of the kit

um, i need to replace the passengar side cab sloor in my van, a 69 LHD (deluxe ), if the floor from the burnt van is in fit condition, is salvageable, and would fit, i'd be glad to take it off you guys. i was about to order from Schofields today, and get it fitted next week, but if it would help i can hold off getting the work done and take it from you when you have it?

i will pm....

just trying to help, it's drop in the ocean, but every little bit should help, no?

gutted for you though

 

[clyde]

Sorry to hear of your loss. As with most people this is my worst nightmare as i keep my van in storage. I informed my insurance because the landlord of the storage wont cover every van in his barn and they said its ok and covered in my policy.............but you just know if the worst was to happen they would try and crawl out of having to pay.

Get any parts and tools that youve managed to salvage on the site im sure the EarlyBay community will help you out as much as they can.

Good luck with everything and i know its difficult but i always try and find a positive in any situation, it sometimes seems hard but definitly helps focus the mind away from the situation which is after all behind you now. Pick up what pieces you can and move on. Im sure its not the end of you VW days.

Keep your chin up

 

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Thanks guys for all your supportive and heart-felt comments. It's nice to know people understand what we're going through. People we know who aren't into VWs just say 'well it's only a lump of metal' :shock:

Yes we are considering breaking the parts of the van that have survived, which includes everything Deano has listed as well as some other bits which we haven't looked through yet... the only delay is that we are trying to claim from someone at the moment and any insurers may want to see the van as it is at the moment, so we may need to hang fire before we can do anything.

The floor is a brand new Schofield's one just fitted a few months ago, and it doesn't seem to have been damaged, so Baron - once everything is confirmed and we can go ahead and start cutting it up the floor is yours.

Cheers everyone, I hope something good can come out of this mess.

James and Rach x