Norton Motorcycles Also Owes UK Taxpayers Millions Of Pounds

The list of people that Norton Motorcycles owes substantial amounts of money to appears to be growing by the day. UK taxpayers have apparently been on the hook for millions of pounds in the years since Stuart Garner first attempted to resurrect the Norton name—in addition to all the pensioners whose lifetime savings now hang in the balance.  

The Saga Continues:

Weekend WTF: This Corporate Drama Is Provided To You By Norton

This Norton Motorcycles Pension Scandal Is Deep And Ugly

Thanks to the ongoing joint investigation by the Guardian and ITV, UK chair of parliament’s public accounts committee, Meg Hillier MP, is currently calling for an official investigation into UK government funding of Norton Motorcycles. An estimated £5m—or US $6,478,000—came in the form of government grants allocated both to Norton and to the charitable British Motorcycle Manufacturing Academy that Stuart Garner also controlled. 

Among other things that have come to light, BDO Accounting—which is currently Norton Motorcycles’ administrator—issued a report for potential business buyers outlining a vehicle fleet owned by Norton. It’s worth around £800,000, or about US $1,036,720, and is comprised of ten vehicles: six Aston Martins, three Range Rovers, and a single lonely Jaguar F-Type. 

ITV reporter Joel Hills attempted to ask Garner about all of this directly, but as you can see in the video embedded in this tweet, Garner refused to answer. Part of this attempted interview was edited into the main ITV video, but you can see more of it in the tweet.

Pensioners, the UK government, and anyone who put a deposit down on a new Norton have all been financially affected by the Norton Motorcycles collapse—but what about anyone who actually took delivery of a new Norton?

Some angry new-Norton owners have taken to Twitter to share allegations of their completed Nortons being requested back to the factory for warranty service, and then stripped of parts to make “new” bikes. 

Here’s a video of the same owner’s bike being retrieved from the Norton factory. 

Claims of as many as nine known Norton V4s in this condition have also been made. If you or someone you know has been affected, you may want to reach out to this Twitter account to connect you with BDO to discuss your claim.

What about those pensioners? The public pension ombudsman hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, February 13—and hopefully, somehow, they’ll see some justice out of all of this.

Sources: YouTube, The Guardian, ITV