Some Progress at last

After updating this blog on 1 April, I forwarded links to Neil Hermann at Lyndhurst Toyota, Toyota South Africa Headoffice plus an address at Supergroup - the holding company.

Mr Hermann chose to ignore - and this is why I continue to boycott Lyndhurst Toyota - for vehicles and Petrol.

Toyota South Africa ignored this - They obviously do not give a damn about their image.


I was very impressed by as phone call from Graham Watson of Supergroup who has explained the situation and promised action.

 Last week there was some intense cleaning of the old neglected forecourt.  I am looking forward to the yard area being cleaned up to a similar standard.

There is a huge problem with rats - all neighboring complexes are affected - I have asked Graham to attend to this issue and to close up all drains (mostly sewers)  that are currently open.

Let us see what happens.

THE FAILED AUCTION AND POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF LYNDHURST TOYOTA

In December the site concerned was advertised to be auctioned which was very good news for the local residents, however there were not many bidders and the reserve was not reached, so our problem persists.

The problem?

We live next to a property that is owned by Lyndhurst Toyota / Rand Stadium Toyota.
The owners refuse to maintain the property.
The owners store their stock of vehicles on the site - they can afford a day time security guard but nothing at night.
They allow people to squat on the site.

The good news?

I have it on good authority that Lyndhurst Toyota are going to lose their franchise, however I do not know where this leaves us - probably with two neglected properties on Johannesburg road / Pretoria road.

Rand Stadium Toyota still full of it

In June 2010, our residential complex experienced a breach of security.

This happened when two thugs entered the complex and broke into one of our units at around 02:00AM.

The owner involved was attacked however he is fought the attackers off and they escaped.

Fortunately besides some minor suturing in three places, he "only" had to deal with some discomfort while his family had to deal with the trauma.

Via the grape vine, we learned that Rand Stadium Toyota had been paying a neighbouring residential complex for electricity to run some passive infrared security sensors (movement detectors), however they had defaulted on their payments and the complex had switched them off.  This had resulted in a crime spike in the area, and our complex had now become a victim.

At that stage the neglected property was in a shocking state.

Below is a collection of photographs showing the condition of the property concerned.

Mr Neil Hermann of Lyndhurst Toyota threatened me with arrest for trespassing if I visit the property again.

After much communication between ourselves and Lynhurst Toyota, there was a half hearted clean up of the site, however they neglected to spray for weeds and the problem is now worse than before.

SECURITY AT YOUR VEHICLE STORAGE SLUM ON JOHANNESBURG / PRETORIA ROAD IN LYNDHURST

Dear Mr Hermann

At 02:00 this morning our complex had a breach of security via your vehicle storage squatter camp in Lyndhurst - previously the home of Lyndhurst BMW, and now the future proud site of Rand Stadium Toyota.

One of our residents was severely beaten, and his immediate family plus other residents in our complex are severely traumatised.

We have a long history of disagreement surrounding this site that is negatively effecting the value of our investments (homes).

We still encourage residents in our neighborhood to BOYCOTT Lyndhurst Toyota

Two months ago we became very excited thinking that the end of this mess was near when the Fuel pumps and the subterranean fule storage tanks were ripped out.

Unfortunately for us, that is all that has happened and there is now a huge crater on what used to be the fore court of this once excellent petrol station.

Last night we had a community meeting at Lyndhurst Primary School (regarding the relocation of Xenophobia "refugees" to our neighbourhood) where a manager from Lyndhurst Toyota announced his business OWNS this site.

I thin that I can say "I REST MY CASE!"

This is amazing since they have been denying ownership and claiming that a legal dispute has prevented them from maintaining this site.

At least my actions have resulted in these non owners finally being motivated to clean up this site.

Courtesy of Amanda Watson, the following article appeared in our "knock & drop" the Northern Tribune on Tuesday.

"Sites for Sore Eyes

Lyndhurst: With development poised to explode along Johannesburg Road, things are about to get a lot messier before they get better.

Residents have been complaining for a while about problems, which always appeared to fall on deaf ears.

"Mosquitoes and rats are making our lives hell here. There are three, larvae infested, stagnant water features and it seems as if the owners of the property do not care about their responsibilities to the community," said David Kahn.

He lives next to the vacant BP station on Johannesburg Road, and feels the current owners are dragging their feet over the property.

Robbie Matticks, Operations Executive for Super Group Dealerships (SGD), explained there were a number of issues that had to be overcome before they could build.

"The property belongs to Lyndhurst Toyota. We've been there. There are no rats, nothing that's breeding rats or mosquitoes. We've had an insecticide company go through there twice already," said Matticks.

A legal merry‑go‑round between the previous owners and SGD, the BP shop owner and SGD, and BP Petrol and the previous owner has prevented their R40‑million development for a long time. The project involves the building of a car dealership which will be the new home of Lyndhurst Toyota.

"These have now all been resolved.

Before we start building, the fuel tanks still have to be removed by BP and a health certificate issued to the effect that the ground is clear of contaminants."

A complicated process still lies ahead before any sod turning is done.

"Corporate governance does slow things down, if it were up to us we would go ahead. We're hoping to start construction before the end of the year." Matticks is sending in a garden service to clean up the property in the meantime. The property where mechanics are currently housing themselves behind the garage, belongs to the City and Matticks is hoping to lease the land in the near future.

'It's not our intention to aggravate neighbours, but when construction does start, there's going to be a fair amount of dust."

It seems as if we are dealing with politicians here and not corporates. I visited this site this morning and in less than three minutes counted no less than eight huge rats.

The main reason for my visit was to investigate the pungent smell of burning plastic - VERY HEALTHY STUFF I might add.

The source of the smell was a fire lit by a female living in a zozo hut on the site - she was burnign some rubbish. I insisted that the security guard must extinguish the poison which he did.

Mr Matticks if you cannot find the rats give me a call and I will show them to you. My time was very limited this morning so I could not check on the mosquitoes I will report on this part of the issues in my next post