November 2017

NOVEMBER 2017 AFTERMARKET 5 www.aftermarketonline.net Aftermarket ran a story in June about BMWs mysteriously bursting into flame in the United States. Now the Sun has reported a UK incident. Caroline Rose, 46, and her fiancé Jamie Burns, 40, from Skegness, managed to escape from her BMW 320i just before it caught fire. Caroline had owned the 2008 car for 10 days when it was destroyed in the still-unexplained incident on 18 August. Earlier that day she had taken the car back to the Audi garage in Lincoln where it was bought because the engine warning light kept coming on. She told the newspaper: “They checked it over and said it should be alright, and that if there were any other problems with it, I should take it to a BMW specialist.” Later that night she noticed strange “popping” sounds, then the engine cut out. Three minutes into a call to the RAC Caroline noticed smoke coming from the engine bay. 20 seconds later the car was alight. The pair were able to film the car as it caught fire. An insurance inspection did not identify the cause. “I won’t buy another BMW,” Caroline added, I’m looking for an Audi now.” Around 40 different BMWs are reported to have caught fire mysteriously over the last five years in the US. A variety of different models have been affected. Garage owner takes ‘The Great Escape’ for charity The owner of a South Lanarkshire garage raised just under £5,000 for Prostate Cancer UK last month by completing a trans-European car rally themed after The Great Escape. David Dorricott, proprietor of The Cross Garage in Stonehouse took part in The Crumball Rally in September. The three day budget classic and banger rally took in France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and included visits to several famous wartime sites, ending at Munich's Oktoberfest. The theme was the famous 1944 mass- escape of allied POWs from Stalag Luft III that inspired the film of the same name. "It was on my bucket list," commented David. "It visited Colditz Castle and Zagen in Poland, the location of Stalag Luft III, where the movie was based. These things are of interest to me. We did the Nürburgring too." Obviously, David was well- placed to find an appropriately hardy vehicle: "I bought a Volkswagen Golf convertible with 110,000 miles on the clock from a customer. We did some basic servicing on it, and riddled it with bullet holes. The car never let us down on the whole trip – the electric powered hood still works on it. The customer who sold it to me actually wants to buy it back. It was a customer who suggested doing it for charity. It hadn't even entered my mind because I thought I was just doing it for myself. “Over a seven day period we covered just short of 2,000 miles, and most importantly raised just under £5,000 for Prostate Cancer UK, with a few laughs in- between." www.aftermarketonline.net Ben4Business: new business package launched Ben4Business brings together the services that Ben offers to industry partners in one package, consisting of a range of digital and workplace awareness initiatives and new training programmes. Ben4Business partnerships are based around four key programme elements: BenAware BenatWork BenTraining BackingBen Jools Tait, business development director at Ben, said: “This new approach will add value to automotive companies by helping protect the health and wellbeing of their employees, and therefore, has a positive impact on the whole industry.” More flaming BMWs – Fire mystery reaches UK