The truth behind the rumours
31-07-2008, 10:20 PM
#1
The truth behind the rumours
Whilst I would much rather leave the past to the history books, time and time again I hear stories relating to my past from customers and acquaintances and these stories are getting wilder and wilder, to the extent that they are starting to wear me down a little. I feel it’s very unfair that I have to work so hard in order to combat untruths spread by people who have their own agenda OR those who have never even met me - most of whom just want to prove they are "in the know"! Not to mention the annoyance caused when you hear it has been coming from fellow tuners, who I can only presume wish to damage my business in order to further their own - so here is the real story of Mr Martoons climb to legitimacy...
In the late eighties I had moved on from repairing Mini’s and into Metros, which sold well and were very easy to repair. I re-shelled loads with brand new bodies, all bought from the local dealer and at any one time, I could have at least three shells being painted at the bodyshop. In fact it wasn't long before I had a little production line going
The Rover 100 was launched and I carried on buying as many as I could lay my hands on. In fact at this time you could not buy a damaged Rover Metro/100 from a Midlands salvage yard, because they were all phoning me first and I was buying everything! During this time I got talking to someone who told me that if I fitted the new shells with enough new parts, then I would get a brand new registration. This is where it all went wrong....
I bought all the needed parts from my local dealer - bodyshell, engine, steering rack, gearbox, some suspension etc, built the car up and then submitted it to the DVLA for inspection. They looked at the receipts, were sufficiently satisfied with the car and duly issued me with a brand new registration.
Shortly after this, whilst in conversation with the guys at the local dealership, it became clear that the DVLA didn’t check to see if the receipts I used were actually genuine, they did however stamp them with the DVLA date stamp. This got me thinking - what if I bought new shells, new engines, but used everything else off the salvaged cars that I had?
All I needed were receipts to do this, so I bought a box off blank ones on the QT off one of the sales guys at the dealership and just typed up my own invoices. I then submitted the car for inspection and naturally the same thing happened again, with a new registration being issued!
So now I had two "brand new" Rover 100’s and without any difficulty, which I sold to friends at cheap money, but still made a decent profit. I will add that I did tell the person that they were getting a new shell and engine only.
Anyhow a few months passed and everyone still wanted these fucking Rover 100’s, so I had produced several more, when the local DVLA staff started to ask too many questions.
During registering my Rover 100’s, I had also registered my Mondeo and I learned that a friend's dad was registering cars (mainly Cosworths) at Luton VRO and after a meeting with him, I was in the belief that he had a foot in the door there, and that he could get cars registered without the too many questions I was now getting. So a deal was struck and a price fixed and my Rover’s started getting registered at the Luton VRO.
I can’t remember how many, but at least 6 cars were put through there including my Escort (all bills for the Escort were genuine). Anyhow, this brings us to mid 1996 and around that time another guy from Birmingham got wind of how this scheme worked and decided to have a go at this "registering game" himself. He already had an Escort Cosworth and decided it would be a good idea to present this car as new for inspection, but at the Birmingham VRO, in a bid to obtain a new reg - probably so he could put it on another yet to be built up Escort. I can’t remember why or how it came about, but the inspection went horribly wrong for him, as the police were waiting, and the doughnut even had a holdall in the back of the car with the original plates off the supposedly new car taken for inspection - d'oh!
This is where the police got a break-through, as they soon realised that Escort taken for inspection had already been registered as being built up from parts at Luton VRO. So they pulled off a list of all the recent applications for newly registered cars at both Luton and Birmingham VRO, several names came up and suddenly I was now on their radar.
Early Jan 97 and my house and workshop got raided, my wife was obviously not happy, and they took my Escort, Mondeo, a few Rover 100’s, some parts and loads of invoices for parts. They interviewed me for what seemed like ages, but I decided that I would say nothing, so gave the standard "No comment" reply to every question. I figured that this would be best as I could later analyse their questions to see what they knew.
Days later I started getting phone calls from customers who had bought the previously damaged Metro’s I had repaired, saying that the Police had called to inspect their cars, they were all examined and the Police went away happy as they were legit.
Another raid occurred 6 months later and another interview and fast forward a bit and we end up in early 1999, when their investigations had come up with the following:
My Mondeo engine contained a stolen crank and rods (block & head were fine), but I had bought the engine complete, so the receipt for this saves me, as I obviously would not have know that it contained stolen parts.
My Escort had stolen con rods, I knew exactly where I had bought them from, but didn’t want to drop the guy in it, so kept quiet. Everything else was clean. They did not pursue this and the insurance company ended up actually giving them to me!
Two Radio’s that were in my possession were discovered to stolen, but at the time I had about 50 of them as I offered radio decoding as a service.
Two Rover 100 lock sets were said to be in packaging that would only have been found on the production line, I told them where I bought them from and although the supplier showed them sets in stock packaged in the same way they chose to ignore him and press on with charging me for them.[/font]
All the other cars taken were 100% clean and above board.
None of the above really mattered as the Police were looking to charge me with conspiracy together with the friends dad for making up the false paperwork, sadly (or luckily) for him he has too ill to be put through the court process. In the end they charged me with Conspiracy to defraud the DVLA and making false Instruments (receipts) these together with the radios & locksets were all I was charged with, still serious enough though .
July 99 and it all goes to Crown court, me together with other defendants, one of those who also shared the same first name as me was proved to have sold two 100% stolen escort Cosworths which were registered at Birmingham VRO, I did not know this guy until the investigation was under way but the amount of damming evidence against him was unbelievable. Anyhow he gets a suspended sentence and I pleaded guilty and got 18 months, I still to this day think the stupid judge got the two Martin’s mixed up, my sentence was reduced on appeal to 12 months. I spent 4 in an open prison and 2 on the tag.
So to sum up:
. I made up receipts to cover the fact that I was using second hand parts instead of brand new ones, which at the time I thought was quite enterprising.
ˇ Everyone who bought a car from me knew how I obtained the registration.
. No one lost any money.
ˇ I was not involved with stolen Cosworths.
ˇ For all the things as described above, I was sentenced for 12 months and since my release just before the millennium, I have kept everything straight and level. My business is getting bigger and bigger and despite my seemingly dodgy past, I have proved time and time again that I can be trusted!
Sorry it has proven to be so mundane and not as "gangster" as many would have wished, but please feel free to add the odd gun running and heroine smuggling if this makes you feel better....
In the late eighties I had moved on from repairing Mini’s and into Metros, which sold well and were very easy to repair. I re-shelled loads with brand new bodies, all bought from the local dealer and at any one time, I could have at least three shells being painted at the bodyshop. In fact it wasn't long before I had a little production line going
The Rover 100 was launched and I carried on buying as many as I could lay my hands on. In fact at this time you could not buy a damaged Rover Metro/100 from a Midlands salvage yard, because they were all phoning me first and I was buying everything! During this time I got talking to someone who told me that if I fitted the new shells with enough new parts, then I would get a brand new registration. This is where it all went wrong....
I bought all the needed parts from my local dealer - bodyshell, engine, steering rack, gearbox, some suspension etc, built the car up and then submitted it to the DVLA for inspection. They looked at the receipts, were sufficiently satisfied with the car and duly issued me with a brand new registration.
Shortly after this, whilst in conversation with the guys at the local dealership, it became clear that the DVLA didn’t check to see if the receipts I used were actually genuine, they did however stamp them with the DVLA date stamp. This got me thinking - what if I bought new shells, new engines, but used everything else off the salvaged cars that I had?
All I needed were receipts to do this, so I bought a box off blank ones on the QT off one of the sales guys at the dealership and just typed up my own invoices. I then submitted the car for inspection and naturally the same thing happened again, with a new registration being issued!
So now I had two "brand new" Rover 100’s and without any difficulty, which I sold to friends at cheap money, but still made a decent profit. I will add that I did tell the person that they were getting a new shell and engine only.
Anyhow a few months passed and everyone still wanted these fucking Rover 100’s, so I had produced several more, when the local DVLA staff started to ask too many questions.
During registering my Rover 100’s, I had also registered my Mondeo and I learned that a friend's dad was registering cars (mainly Cosworths) at Luton VRO and after a meeting with him, I was in the belief that he had a foot in the door there, and that he could get cars registered without the too many questions I was now getting. So a deal was struck and a price fixed and my Rover’s started getting registered at the Luton VRO.
I can’t remember how many, but at least 6 cars were put through there including my Escort (all bills for the Escort were genuine). Anyhow, this brings us to mid 1996 and around that time another guy from Birmingham got wind of how this scheme worked and decided to have a go at this "registering game" himself. He already had an Escort Cosworth and decided it would be a good idea to present this car as new for inspection, but at the Birmingham VRO, in a bid to obtain a new reg - probably so he could put it on another yet to be built up Escort. I can’t remember why or how it came about, but the inspection went horribly wrong for him, as the police were waiting, and the doughnut even had a holdall in the back of the car with the original plates off the supposedly new car taken for inspection - d'oh!
This is where the police got a break-through, as they soon realised that Escort taken for inspection had already been registered as being built up from parts at Luton VRO. So they pulled off a list of all the recent applications for newly registered cars at both Luton and Birmingham VRO, several names came up and suddenly I was now on their radar.
Early Jan 97 and my house and workshop got raided, my wife was obviously not happy, and they took my Escort, Mondeo, a few Rover 100’s, some parts and loads of invoices for parts. They interviewed me for what seemed like ages, but I decided that I would say nothing, so gave the standard "No comment" reply to every question. I figured that this would be best as I could later analyse their questions to see what they knew.
Days later I started getting phone calls from customers who had bought the previously damaged Metro’s I had repaired, saying that the Police had called to inspect their cars, they were all examined and the Police went away happy as they were legit.
Another raid occurred 6 months later and another interview and fast forward a bit and we end up in early 1999, when their investigations had come up with the following:
My Mondeo engine contained a stolen crank and rods (block & head were fine), but I had bought the engine complete, so the receipt for this saves me, as I obviously would not have know that it contained stolen parts.
My Escort had stolen con rods, I knew exactly where I had bought them from, but didn’t want to drop the guy in it, so kept quiet. Everything else was clean. They did not pursue this and the insurance company ended up actually giving them to me!
Two Radio’s that were in my possession were discovered to stolen, but at the time I had about 50 of them as I offered radio decoding as a service.
Two Rover 100 lock sets were said to be in packaging that would only have been found on the production line, I told them where I bought them from and although the supplier showed them sets in stock packaged in the same way they chose to ignore him and press on with charging me for them.[/font]
All the other cars taken were 100% clean and above board.
None of the above really mattered as the Police were looking to charge me with conspiracy together with the friends dad for making up the false paperwork, sadly (or luckily) for him he has too ill to be put through the court process. In the end they charged me with Conspiracy to defraud the DVLA and making false Instruments (receipts) these together with the radios & locksets were all I was charged with, still serious enough though .
July 99 and it all goes to Crown court, me together with other defendants, one of those who also shared the same first name as me was proved to have sold two 100% stolen escort Cosworths which were registered at Birmingham VRO, I did not know this guy until the investigation was under way but the amount of damming evidence against him was unbelievable. Anyhow he gets a suspended sentence and I pleaded guilty and got 18 months, I still to this day think the stupid judge got the two Martin’s mixed up, my sentence was reduced on appeal to 12 months. I spent 4 in an open prison and 2 on the tag.
So to sum up:
. I made up receipts to cover the fact that I was using second hand parts instead of brand new ones, which at the time I thought was quite enterprising.
ˇ Everyone who bought a car from me knew how I obtained the registration.
. No one lost any money.
ˇ I was not involved with stolen Cosworths.
ˇ For all the things as described above, I was sentenced for 12 months and since my release just before the millennium, I have kept everything straight and level. My business is getting bigger and bigger and despite my seemingly dodgy past, I have proved time and time again that I can be trusted!
Sorry it has proven to be so mundane and not as "gangster" as many would have wished, but please feel free to add the odd gun running and heroine smuggling if this makes you feel better....
Last edited by Martin-Hadland; 31-07-2008 at 11:02 PM.
31-07-2008, 10:27 PM
#5
Fucking superstar........
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Is that all? Can't beleive they gave you a custodial for that!!! Thats insane!!
I know people who have committed seriously violent crime and haven't done time....
Least you learned from your mistake..
I know people who have committed seriously violent crime and haven't done time....
Least you learned from your mistake..
31-07-2008, 10:29 PM
#7
My Cossie Ate My Money
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very honest of you, i say well done for telling it how it is that should shut up whatever people have been saying but tbh i have never heard a bad word about you
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31-07-2008, 10:31 PM
#12
I've found that life I needed.. It's HERE!!
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not that its got anything to do with people on here i think well done for being honest and not afraid to admit your past ( not that its bad ) lets be honest everyone has done something bad in there past but i dont belive that the above is bad atall
J
J
31-07-2008, 10:38 PM
#26
Too many posts.. I need a life!!
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I was hoping you were part of the great train robbery, had pictures of you sitting on shergar and were mates with the Krays.
The rumour mongers will be devastated now that you've set the record straight.
Quite an interesting read, I too had heard internet rumours, but as usual they all turn out to be utter bullshit.
Respect for airing your past misdemeanors on the internet, tho as many will probably now agree, you were hardly guilty of the crime of the century.
The rumour mongers will be devastated now that you've set the record straight.
Quite an interesting read, I too had heard internet rumours, but as usual they all turn out to be utter bullshit.
Respect for airing your past misdemeanors on the internet, tho as many will probably now agree, you were hardly guilty of the crime of the century.
31-07-2008, 10:39 PM
#28
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Interesting read, Martin.
Ref the Judge - I reckon two things may have happened. Either 1 - the judge did exactly what you said, and confused the two of you, or 2 - The idiot decided to try you on what he thought was happening, rather than on the merits of the evidence.
What a mismatch of justice frankly!
JJ
Ref the Judge - I reckon two things may have happened. Either 1 - the judge did exactly what you said, and confused the two of you, or 2 - The idiot decided to try you on what he thought was happening, rather than on the merits of the evidence.
What a mismatch of justice frankly!
JJ
31-07-2008, 10:42 PM
#32
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Jees. 12months for that, heavy duty.
To be honest i'd say the amount of happy customers you seem to have today shows that you can be trusted. Good on you for putting up your side of things too, i wont kid on i hadn't heard stories about you robbing cossies back in the day either
To be honest i'd say the amount of happy customers you seem to have today shows that you can be trusted. Good on you for putting up your side of things too, i wont kid on i hadn't heard stories about you robbing cossies back in the day either
31-07-2008, 10:43 PM
#35
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Martin how come you've posted this now after knowing all these years that these "rumours" are about? why you so bothered about myths etc?
Your story contradicts what was stated in the papers and the central news at the time..not that they are the most accurate at the best of times.
I know of two cosworths stolen from relatives at the time, and have always heard your name aswell as other well known Birmingham thieves associated with them.
I know allot of the same people you do, and it would seem to me your friends are not really your friends if what your saying is true.
Your story contradicts what was stated in the papers and the central news at the time..not that they are the most accurate at the best of times.
I know of two cosworths stolen from relatives at the time, and have always heard your name aswell as other well known Birmingham thieves associated with them.
I know allot of the same people you do, and it would seem to me your friends are not really your friends if what your saying is true.
31-07-2008, 10:43 PM
#36
PassionFord Post Whore!!
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to be honest mate, alot of people have pasts, just not alot of people know, even if it was worse you've learnt and turned your life around and now have a great reputation and people respect you, keep up the good work what your really known for 
31-07-2008, 10:44 PM
#37
mart
asleast you know better now and your work speaks for yourself , i know me and you use to fall out with each other over stupid things
you always help me out and ill will allways help you out , there were times when you use to piss me off tho .........lol..
your a mate of mine at the end of the day glad to see things going good for you
marco
asleast you know better now and your work speaks for yourself , i know me and you use to fall out with each other over stupid things
you always help me out and ill will allways help you out , there were times when you use to piss me off tho .........lol..
your a mate of mine at the end of the day glad to see things going good for you
marco
31-07-2008, 10:45 PM
#38
i remember 2 stolen recovered escort cosworths about 99 that turned up, iirc 2 coppers bought them cheep and sold them on q plates for a nice profit, 1 diamond white and a pacifica blue one, they made sure they got them before anybody else did.
i used to buy stuff off you back in the 1990's when i first heard about Reyland in the Motoring News, do you remember advertising in the MN ?
i don't remember seeing metro shells only metro parts like interiors but cosworth stuff and shells i do remember you having.
back in the day you were allowed into reyland to collect parts no problem
and there was no funny buisness with the stuff i bought
i used to buy stuff off you back in the 1990's when i first heard about Reyland in the Motoring News, do you remember advertising in the MN ?
i don't remember seeing metro shells only metro parts like interiors but cosworth stuff and shells i do remember you having.
back in the day you were allowed into reyland to collect parts no problem
and there was no funny buisness with the stuff i bought
31-07-2008, 10:46 PM
#39
Too many posts.. I need a life!!
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Well Martin you've got nothing to be ashamed of, good for you in going straight...
it's obvious it's just the sad gits that are jealous of your sucess, that have been stiring up shit! fcuk them martin, a lot of people on here trust you 100% I dont know you but have herd a lot and read a lot about you, I would trust you no problem try and ignore the asswipes
it's obvious it's just the sad gits that are jealous of your sucess, that have been stiring up shit! fcuk them martin, a lot of people on here trust you 100% I dont know you but have herd a lot and read a lot about you, I would trust you no problem try and ignore the asswipes
Last edited by Rides; 31-07-2008 at 10:50 PM.
