Going, going, gone: FitzPatrick’s BMW gets the boot

SEAN FitzPatrick’s BMW was crushed and boxed yesterday, every bit as clapped out as the country Anglo et al has left behind.

The black 3-series motor, licence plate 92 D 38478, had been seized from outside the former Anglo chief’s Greystones home last month.

It was then auctioned off, with the top bidder winning the chance to push the button on the machine that sent Seanie’s car to automobile heaven.

That person was Limerick comedian Concy Ryan, star of RTÉ’s Storyland. It wasn’t a button exactly, more a foot pedal but the result was the same: one old car, squished into a rectangle.

The car was acquired by National Recycling at an auction last year for €1,234.56, and, after it was taken from FitzPatrick’s house last month, the Mooney radio show on RTÉ auctioned the right to crush it on eBay.

The winning bid was €3,150 and as Concy posed triumphantly with the licence plate, Conor Hand of National Recycling said the money would be going to charity, although the actual charity has yet to be selected.

According to Concy: “I took a euro from everyone in Limerick. I brought in a load of coppers and because it’s a recycling place I think they valued the coppers more than the euro.”

He joked that he sold the car to Sean FitzPatrick 10 years ago and that the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive had also refused him a home loan.

Concy, who claims to be from “Moyhill”, said: “This is better than burning out cars. It’s the most satisfying thing I ever did.”

As for souvenirs, he said: “I ripped the stereo out and one of the wing mirrors — that’ll do me.

“I’m normally drunk but I’m sober today,” he added, helpfully.

The BMW had been sold off by the High Court’s assignee dealing with his bankruptcy procedures and had refused to start when it was taken by National Recycling last month, eventually having to be towed away by a truck.

The car is now a cuboid pile of metal.

Now, if only they could somehow dispose of Anglo...