Carousel could still find home after auction blunder publicity
A CAROUSEL which was mistakenly bid for in an auction last week could still find new home.
Grimsby-based Prestige Auctions has ruled out pursuing the online purchaser who put in a £180,000 bid for the 114-yearold attraction at Pleasure Island, Cleethorpes, and then admitted he could not pay for it.
Auctioneer Carl Vince, from Prestige Auctions, is hoping a deal can be sealed this week after national media attention brought three interested buyers into the frame, from Hampshire, Surrey and a third said to be “very local”.
During bidding last Thursday there had been little interest in the ride and Mr Vince had already bought the hammer down on the lot as “not sold” when the bid came through online.
However just a few minutes later there was a telephone call from the bidder saying “Oh my God, what have I done?”
Mr Vince said they would be prepared to negotiate on the 15 per cent commission, normally added to the asking price. He said: “We are categorically not chasing the person.
“We have to go with it as a mistake – in the end the guy doesn’t have the money to pay.
“But there are three interested parties.
“One of them is a collector of old fairground equipment of which he had a large collection.
“Another is in tourism and the third we don’t know a lot about.
“All is not lost and I do genuinely believe we could possibly sell it this week.”
The carousel was one of just a handful of the 1,260 lots from Pleasure Island which didn’t sell. The park, previously a zoo, leisure park and stock car racing track, closed in 2016 after 23 years.