Bids to crush FitzPatrick's BMW reach €5,000-plus

BIDS TO press the button to crush the 3-series 1992 BMW car of disgraced banker Seán FitzPatrick are to close at 4pm today.

BIDS TO press the button to crush the 3-series 1992 BMW car of disgraced banker Seán FitzPatrick are to close at 4pm today.

The bids on the online auction site eBay.ie were running in excess of €5,000 last night, with organisers National Recycling Limited hoping for a last-minute surge today. All money raised by the unusual auction is to be donated to the Samaritans.

The auction and subsequent crushing may not be the ultimate end of the famous BMW, however.

Conor Hand, sales manager with National Recycling, said consideration was being given to using the crushed vehicle, baled to a size of about two foot by three foot, as an ornament, a souvenir or even a table. “It is just a thought” he said, “but it would probably be hard to raffle it twice”.

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Asked whether the bale would be the property of the highest bidder, Mr Hand said the bidder would win the right to crush the car, but the vehicle would go for recycling in the normal way.

Before the vehicle is crushed, fuel and oil and items such as alloy wheels, glass, battery and seats will have been removed.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is an Irish Times journalist