I'll carry on, says banned car boot man

John Robbins, organiser of the regular 'Children Fundraiser's Car Boot Sale,' claims he was made a scapegoat after Blaenau Gwent borough council trading standards and Ebbw Vale police raided his car boot sale at Festival Park on July 25.

They seized 350 films - such as I, Robot and King Arthur which had not even been screened in British cinemas at the time - and which were worth more than £6,000.

Just three days after the swoop, management told him he was no longer welcome at the site where he had been hosting car boot sales every Sunday for the past five years.

He has since found an alternative site at the Ebbw Vale RTB Sports Arena at Hilltop. Mr Robbins, 62, from Hilltop, said: "I've been organising car boot sales for more than 25 years and this is the first time I've had any trouble.

"I would always ask traders if they were selling counterfeit goods and if they told me there were not, then who am I to argue?

"I'm very angry about the decision of the management at Festival Park to kick me off the site - I thought it was very harsh."

Mr Robbins said all his profits went towards helping needy children in Blaenau Gwent and he has vowed to bounce back for their sake.

At last Sunday's car boot sale at Hilltop, £375 was raised compared to the £500 normally generated at the Festival Park site.

Mr Robbins said: "Maybe we won't have so much money put out but I will bounce back and build the car boot sale back up I can assure you. I'm very strong-willed and my name is good in Ebbw Vale."

Mickey Morris, operations manager at the Festival Park Shopping Centre, said the decision to ban car boot sales in their car park had been taken in fairness to the 50 tenants running shops at the centre.

"It is very sad for the genuine car booters," he said. "We have been having the car boot sales for three or four years and we had never had anything like this before."