Man counting the cost of storage company collapse

Buy photos » Collapse - Guardian Self-Storage’s former premises. Picture by Marcus Mingins 4612028MMR.

A FORMER customer of a Worcester self-storage company which collapsed last November fears he may never be reunited with his treasured belongings.

Jonathan Sharp attended a second access day at Guardian Self-Storage on the Sherriff Street Industrial Estate in a bid to find items worth several thousand pounds which he had kept in storage over the past five years.

But the 46-year-old former Worcester resident’s search for possessions including a Yamaha electric bass guitar and Stagg electric violin proved fruitless at the site which he labelled a ‘dingy hellhole’.

“In return for spending around £9,000 in storage fees I’ve lost everything. It’s a disgraceful state of affairs,” he told The Standard.

Mr Sharp said he had stored his belongings in an outdoor 30 cubic metre container and had enough goods inside to fill a three to four bedroom house.

“This has been the ultimate customer experience from hell,” he added.

“It beggars belief how people can be treated in this way. My goods were worth several thousand pounds but in addition to valuable possessions were a number of irreplaceable mementos dating back more than 20 years.

“These includes photos of my late dad, a large number of CDs and an extensive portfolio of my work as a newspaper and magazine journalist on local and national newspapers.”

Mr Sharp has called for backing from Worcester MP Robin Walker and has also spoken to the Self Storage Association about the case.

“The whole experience has been a terrible ordeal. I now fear that as well as never recovering my goods I will never know for sure where they went."

“The state of the warehouse is quite chaotic. Some units are empty, some are full of goods and remain locked, while possessions such as photographs of toddlers spill out of others."

He has made contact with the company’s former boss Graham Bradbury and removals manager Wayne Brooks to get information about the whereabouts of his possessions.

“I am hopeful they may come forward with more information, but I still haven’t got a clue where my stuff has ended up,” he added.

Mr Sharp is keen to hear from customers who have suffered similar experiences. Anyone who wishes to share their story can e-mail sharpcomms@googlemail.com

Liquidators Butcher Woods were unavailable for comment as The Standard went to press.

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