09 Nov 2023
Equipment used to set up St Albans Charter Market has been sold at auction for less than the price of a second hand car.
A job lot of three tractors including a Reliance Mercury RM403 tractor, a Reliance Mercury tractor and a Vallely VT55 Beaver tractor was sold together with 15 trailers by Tring Market Auctions on Friday for just £3,500.
The items were sold as a job lot and were not available for viewing beforehand. But a local auctioneer claims if the council had practiced due diligence then it could have reaped as much as £10,000 on top of that figure.
Jonathan Humbert, who runs Humbert & Ellis Auctioneers, said: “In my not so humble opinion, the tug tractors could have been worth between £1,500 and £2,500 each, the trailers could certainly have been worth around £500 each and the one Bateson trailer nearer £1,000.
“The inescapable truth is that these items should’ve grossed at least £10,000 more than they did.”
Ahead of the auction, SADC strategic director for community and place delivery Christine Traill explained why it was taking place: “Equipment and vehicles used in former years to erect and dismantle the market, that are no longer needed, have been put up for sale by auction.
“Our flexible market is running well, with modern equipment, and gradually growing with the support of our traders. It is also costing less to run, which is an important factor in the current financial environment. The council is currently incurring costs for storing the unused equipment so it makes sense to use the proceeds for other important work and clear the former market depot to be put to good use.”
Jonathan freely admits he missed out on buying the tugs, which he wanted to refurbish and offer as a land train for St Albans city centre, but cites numerous reasons why the auction was flawed.
“My concern is that the items were sold via a local auction house in a general sale and only online with one non-specialist online, bidding platform, whereas specialist sales and bidding platforms that deal with such plant and machinery are readily available. The largest of which is The Saleroom.com which also owns iBidder and Bidspotter – two commercial building platforms that specialise in such items. This information is easy to obtain, and there are many auction houses, the deal directly with these online bidding platforms. Tring Market Auctions is not one of them.
“A modest amount of due diligence or discussion with an auction house that knew what they were talking about, would have revealed this information. Instead, the items were bundled up bizarrely in one lot, in a general sale of household and garden items?
“In my view, the three tug tractors should have been sold individually, clearly stating age, weight, dimensions, number of hours, whether they start and drive and any other relevant service information on each.
“The 15 trailers slightly differed, and would certainly have benefited from being sold ‘like with like’ stating length and weight, drawbar coupling type, unladen weight, etc.
“Viewing of said items could easily have been orchestrated either by the council, or the auctioneer – all it needed was a single viewing day for a number of hours for interested parties to see sight of the items they were potentially buying.
“It is beyond bizarre that all of this equipment was lazily bundled up in one poorly described lot, without the benefit of viewing, and sold in an inappropriate sale with only one online bidding platform that is not suited to such equipment.”
Despite comments made by SADC last week, the traditional market stalls themselves were not sold. It has been confirmed that they are unfit for purpose and have no value other than scrap.
Conservative Parliamentary candidate for St Albans, James Spencer (pictured), has also criticised the sale.
“Having grown up in St Albans I know what a huge part our historic Charter Market plays in the life of our city.
“ Therefore it is a disgrace that the Lib Dem council has flogged it off because of a budget crisis of their own making.
“At a time where city centre footfall is still not back to pre-pandemic levels, we should not be ditching one of the key features which makes our Charter Market so special.
“This selling-off of our history is extremely short sighted and, I believe, hugely damaging for the city – it’s cultural vandalism.
“This situation is yet another concerning incident where the council has acted without consultation or scrutiny. This is what happens when we let the Lib Dems mark their own homework in St Albans.
“I shall be writing to Jacob Young MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up – whose responsibilities include the nation’s high streets – to inform him of this sorry situation and to investigate the possibility of funding heritage market stalls through an application to the national Community Ownership Fund.”
Tom Hardy, SADC assistant director (built environment) said: “We are satisfied with the outcome of the auction and believe that we achieved best value with a realistic price being obtained. Indeed, it was at the higher end of our expectations.
“The equipment had been unused for some years, was very old and in a poor state of repair.
“Before deciding on an auction, we invited offers from specialist firms who deal with tug tractors and trailers.
“We received three offers, but decided to go to auction instead as we thought we might realise a better price and that has been the case.
“Use of auctions is a common practice among local authorities and allowed by our audit and governance committee which has an independent chair. We used a long-established, reputable auction house and the sale was well-publicised.”
Plans were in hand to redevelop the market depot site in Drovers Way, but these have been postponed due to SADC’s budget crisis earlier this year, as were proposals to purchase 80 new traditional stalls.
