Impact of Syon Lane Crash Resounds Five Months On

John Seccombe explains why a builders' merchant can't rebuild a brick wall

Traffic light controls remain at the scene of the crash. Picture: Chris Longhurst

July 19, 2023

The owner of a builder’s yard has pleaded for understanding and patience from the local community as repercussions continue to be felt five months on from a hit-and-run crash which closed part of a popular main road and brought untold stress on him and his business.

John Seccombe describes the current situation as “a recovery process - both in terms of the physical and the psychological damage this has caused us” following the incident in Syon Lane at the junction of Jersey Road in the early hours of 6 February.

Police confirmed a silver Audi RS4, was travelling at sufficient speed to smash through the brick wall and into the yard of P. A. Seccombe and Son Ltd. The occupants fled the scene. Three men were later arrested a short distance away under suspicion of drink-driving.

While the clean-up was able to begin almost immediately, the recovery has taken far longer than anyone was prepared for.

Mr Seccombe said, “We could not progress until the surveyor came back with an exact plan. They needed to see behind the façade before they could sign off on the repairs – which required the removal of all the debris first.”

He added, “The result is that they have said the entire building needs to come down and be rebuilt from scratch. It is not stable, that is why the scaffolding is still in place to help hold it up. They basically said there is no way to remove and renovate the bricks with the roof still in place.”

The repairs will necessitate adjusting the scaffolding to allow the removal of the roof, with the rest of the dismantling continuing from there.

Mr Seccombe said, “Timewise, we’re looking at around 11-12 weeks to complete all the work.

“Unfortunately, the cones and barriers will likely have to remain in place for much of this period as the pavement outside is very narrow so pedestrians would have to pass too close to the building.

“The same goes for the cars, so the temporary traffic lights will also stay in place for the foreseeable as obviously, we don’t want anyone being put at unnecessary risk of harm.”

While the building in question is not vital to the current function of the site – its main use is as a paper storage area – that was not always the case in the past.

Mr Seccombe said: “As we have stated before, the entire site has historic interest due to its past use as a dairy farm. The affected building in question was previously used to store the milk, so actually has a marble floor to help keep the room cold. As we are also in a conservation area all of this has to be kept and put back exactly as it was before.”

Part of the problem was that the insurance company’s loss adjustor did not want a situation where they had to provide the firm with an open cheque book – they needed to know exact costs in advance.

The car embedded in the wall of the builders' yard. Picture: John Seccombe

Also, Mr Seccombe added, “Our case also had to be escalated to their major claims department, which took even more time.

“I’ve never gone through such a process before, suffice to say it had been incredibly frustrating but completely out of our hands. There’s nothing our business can do to speed the process up.”

When it comes to financial costs, the company has already forked out £35,000-£40,000 for the debris clearance, on top of the hiring of scaffolding and the temporary traffic lights which is likely to come in between £100k-£150k – the exact price of the latter is yet to be revealed by Hounslow Highways.

Mr Seccombe added, “We also estimate the loss of business to us personally as a result of all this to be currently clocking in at £160k, which doesn’t include the amount from last month (June).

“Basically, that’s from when the crash happened up until the end of May. It’s affecting the business massively, and we were only just getting back to normality following the pandemic.”

By far one of the biggest headaches for the firm has been becoming the focus of the ire and rage experienced by motorists who either get personally trapped in the traffic caused by the temporary lights, or whose lives have been disrupted as a direct cause of them.

The car narrowly avoided colliding with a more solid section of the wall. Picture: John Seccombe

For what it is worth, Mr Seccombe shares their frustration and said, “We’re doing the best we can to explain to people what the delay is and making regular posts on our website as soon as there is anything new to share – unfortunately not everyone seems to read them.

“The worst thing has undoubtedly been reading and hearing people expressing dissatisfaction with our efforts to fix all this.

“Real smart alecks have said things like “Huh, why can’t a builder’s merchant rebuild a simple wall?” which really isn’t helpful as it’s not that we can’t, it’s simply that we have to follow a process which is set in stone and unfortunately takes a Hell of a long time to negotiate through.

“The important thing for me is hoping that people who are negatively affected realise that we are just as much a victim in all of this as they are.”

In terms of possible criminal charges related to the incident which caused the damage in the first place, Mr Seccombe says he has done his best to keep the police updated with things from his side, but admits he doesn’t know what stage the investigation is currently at.

He said, “I’ve been told the line they’re following relating to the car and its occupants is driving under the influence, but I’ve not heard anything further on that.

“I hope that at the very least whoever was found to be driving the car loses their licence as they have caused us no end of misery and I would hate to see anyone else go through the same thing if they did it again.”

The conversation with Mr Seccombe took place in the office of his family’s business which has been operating from the site of the old Wyke Farm since 1926.

On top of the misery and stress caused by the crash, Mr Seccombe revealed he has also been struggling to deal with the loss of his beloved father, Alan Percy Seccombe, who died following a short illness on 7 May aged 91.

John's father Alan Seccombe died a few months after the crash

Mr Seccombe senior was the second generation of the family to take over the running of the business; doing so with the aid of his two sisters at the age of 35. He retained the role of chairman when his son took over and remained an active presence in the fabric of the company right up until his illness.

Despite all the negatives, John remains determined to ride out the storm and come back stronger than before. He even has the ability to find bright sides amongst the gloom, stating wryly, “At least when I look out of my office window now, where once I saw only a brick wall, now there are trees and greenery visible from the field opposite – that makes quite a nice change!”

Chris Longhurst