Classic car fan's collection worth £500,000 destroyed as brutal storms hit Britain

Ewen Sergison's collection of vintage motors worth £445,000 was damaged when Storm Eunice flattened his barn (SWNS)
Ewen Sergison's collection of vintage motors worth £445,000 was damaged when Storm Eunice flattened his barn (SWNS)

A classic car fan was left devastated after his collection worth almost £500,000 was crushed by the weekend storms.

Ewen Sergison, 46, was left counting the cost after his valuable vehicles were destroyed in 100mph winds as storms Eunice and Franklin battered Britain.

The F1 racing engineer, who also works as a high-speed driving instructor, said the damage to his collection of racing cars will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

An Alfa Romeo GTA, worth £350,000, an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, worth £30,000, a Mini Marcos, worth £15,000, a Triumph Stag, worth £10,000, and two TVRs, worth £20,000 each, were all inside the open-fronted barn when it collapsed.

Despite the extensive damage Sergison, who runs AVIT Motorsport, says he was just glad no customers or staff were inside the structure when it came down during the storm.

Ewen Sergison and partner Rachel Lovett of Dunham, Nottinghamshire in front of the wreckage where with their sports cars were destroyed by Storm Eunice (SWNS)
Ewen Sergison and partner Rachel Lovett of Dunham, Nottinghamshire in front of the wreckage where with their sports cars were destroyed by Storm Eunice (SWNS)

Sergison, who lives in Darlton, Nottinghamshire, with fiancée Rachel, 30, said: "We'd only been home for around half an hour when we noticed the wind pick up.

"One tile suddenly shot across the yard so we thought we should move the cars but as we got up to move them, the whole courtyard filled with dust.

Watch: Storm Franklin batters UK with high winds and flooding, causing rush-hour delays

"The building's roof and walls just came down. It was a relief to find out nobody was inside.

"My partner was hysterical, I spent a good minute telling her to calm down.

"Luckily everyone was safe. None of my staff, customers or animals were in there, it was mostly my own cars damaged and not customers.

Petrol-head Ewen Sergison has been left counting the cost after his valuable vehicles were destroyed in 100mph winds over the weekend (SWNS)
Petrol-head Ewen Sergison has been left counting the cost after his valuable vehicles were destroyed in 100mph winds over the weekend (SWNS)

"If anything I'm glad it wasn't the customers - as one of them was the £350,000 aluminium bodied Alfa Romeo GTA and the other was the Triumph Stag.

"But the cost in total is still likely to be hundreds of thousands of pounds so it is pretty devastating to say the least.

"We moved in just over a year ago, the home hasn’t had any damage. One side is where all the preparation work takes place, the side that’s collapsed is an open fronted barn where we kept the cars.

"The wind blew the back wall and roof and took it around 20ft (6m) into the courtyard.

"The digger and dumper are ones we use on site, the Aston Martin was a retirement present.

An Aston Martin V8 Vantage worth £30,000 was inside the open-fronted barn when it collapsed (SWNS)
An Aston Martin V8 Vantage worth £30,000 was inside the open-fronted barn when it collapsed (SWNS)

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"The 1968 Mini Marcos was given to me by my late mother when I was 14 so these cars obviously have sentimental value too.

"But we also got away with a lot when you think about it. The valuable customers cars just had some windscreen damage and dents to the bonnets and roof.

"Long term we were going to have 11 cars, five ramps and a glass front so it's a good job it happened now instead of further down the line as it could have been worse."

Despite the extensive damage Sergison says he was just glad no customers or staff were inside the structure when it came down during the storm (SWNS)
Despite the extensive damage Sergison says he was just glad no customers or staff were inside the structure when it came down during the storm (SWNS)

Sergison and his partner had already suffered a terrifying flight from New York back to the UK, landing at Heathrow Airport in the high winds.

He added: "We had a bad landing at Heathrow, I drive F1 cars for a living but that is the most scared I have ever been.

"We saw our flight featured on YouTube. It was a bit surreal to see it when we recognised it.

"And then this happened within half an hour of getting home. Everyone has been brilliant in terms of supporting us though.

"People were helping and bringing food. I'm not sure of the exact costs yet and I'm not looking forward to finding out."