01 Dec 2023
Cash-strapped St Albans district council missed out on thousands of pounds extra revenue from the sale of unwanted Charter Market equipment, it has been claimed.
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 for just £3,500 at the start of November.
Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert, of Humbert & Ellis Ltd, warned SADC at the time that they had failed to practice due diligence, and could have reaped at least £10,000 more for the equipment.
But now he has determined that one of the tractors has already sold for £3,500, and the trailers are on sale for £800 each, suggesting a final figure closer to £20,000 for the entire lot.
When SADC disposed of the equipment, Jonathan submitted a Freedom of Information request to understand more about the process of selling the items, which would have been taxpayer-funded when they were purchased.
The response from SADC stated: “The use of auctions is a legitimate disposal route and is common practice for local authorities.
“The assets in question were in a poor state of repair and were not functioning and were not new at the time the council acquired them many years ago.
“In this particular case, prior to taking the action route, the council engaged directly with several reputable firms who specialise in dealing in tug vehicles and trailers. These included firms recommended via an individual who had maintained the assets in the past and therefore had knowledge of them. This engagement involved an inspection of the assets on site.
“The council received offers from three firms and the valuations given were not dissimilar between the offers.
“The council did not feel the offers received represented good value and officers pushed back on the initial sums offered but were still not satisfied so explored other disposal routes.
“The council needs to balance the officer time (and cost) associated with exploring alternative disposal routes against the potential income.
“The sold at auction price exceeded all of the offers from the specialist firms so the council is content with the outcome and is satisfied we took reasonable steps to achieve best value, considering the circumstances.”
Jonathan was less than impressed with the response, and said: “No one is doubting that this is a legitimate disposal route. But it would appear SADC chose a local auctioneer, with no particular track record in plant or machinery and further, the items were put in a wholly inappropriate general sale with a woefully, poor description, very poor photos and new viewing was facilitated. This is something the auctioneers could easily have done for just a few hours on a pre-ordained day to allow prospective purchasers to actually see what they were buying.
“Everything is worth what someone is prepared to pay at auction, but this is predicated on a proper, factual and technical description of the items available, which should be augmented by proper photos and a facilitated viewing. None of this happened in this case. It was incumbent on St Albans district council, selling items paid for by the taxpayer, to get best price.
“It is a dereliction of duty to have gone down the route that the council did by lazily submitting them to an inappropriate auction and barring prospective purchasers from any viewing.
“They should not of been able to sell these by private treaty – that is not achieving ‘best price’ by the taxpayer.
“It is an incontrovertible fact that as a direct result of the woeful descriptions, poor photos, and lack of viewing, coupled with the fact that these items were in a general household sale, itself poorly advertised- that these items achieved an unbelievably low price given what was on offer.”
St Albans district council declined to comment further than their original statement on the matter, which we have previously published, but stated: ““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 committee which has an independent chair. We used a long-established, reputable auction house and the sale was well-publicised.”
