Petrol-head is left devastated after his collection of supercars worth nearly £500,000 – including Alfa Romeo GTA and Aston Martin V8 Vantage – was badly damaged when Storm Eunice flattened barn
- Formula 1 race engineer Ewen Sergison, 46, saw a barn collapse on his prized classic car collection
- Among the cars damaged by Storm Eunice was a £350,000 Alfa Romeo GTA and a Aston Martin Vantage
- Mr Sergison, who runs AVIT Motorsport said none of his staff or any of his animals were injured
A classic car fan has been left devastated after a beloved collection of vintage motors worth almost £500,000 was damaged when Storm Eunice flattened his barn.
Petrol-head Ewen Sergison, 46, has been left counting the cost after his valuable vehicles were destroyed in 100mph winds over the weekend.
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.
Ewen Sergison, 46, pictured with his partner Rachel Lovett, 30, beside the Alfa Romeo GTA at their home in Darlton, Nottinghamshire
The open fronted barn was badly damaged when it was battered by 100 mile per hour winds crushing several cars
There were two TVRs, including this one, damaged when the barn’s roof collapsed during Storm Eunice
This Aston Martin Vantage, worth £30,000, suffered extensive damage when it was crushed by the roof
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, Mr 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.
Mr Sergison, of Darlton, Nottinghamshire, who lives 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.
‘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.
‘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 into the courtyard.
‘The digger and dumper are one’s we use on site, the Aston Martin was a retirement present.
The convertible Aston Martin was badly damaged when the roof collapsed on the V8 super car
Mr Sergison said it was fortunate that none of his customers’ cars were in the shed which collapsed during Storm Eunice
Among the cars damaged in the collapse was a 1968 Mini Marcos which was a gift from his mother when he was aged 14
Mr Sergison said he was planning to install five ramps and a glass front with room for 11 cars, so the scale of damage could have been significantly worse
Mr Sergison and his partner flew into Heathrow during the middle of Storm Eunice. He said he saw the aircraft landing on Big Jet TV. He said: ‘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’
‘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.’
Mr 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.’
The Alfa Romeo GTA was worth £350,000 before the roof collapsed on top of it during Storm Eunice last Friday
Fortunately nobody was injured when the barn collapsed on top of the collection of classic cars
Mr Sergison, pictured, said: ‘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’
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