Aston Darby

At the request of a client we have been looking into the Aston Darby Harbour Car Parking investment near Glasgow Airport.

This has the usual hallmarks of a land banking scheme whereby a company buys a plot of land for £XXX, divides it up into smaller plots and sells the plots for 10 times £XXX. It justifies the sale price of the smaller plots by saying that each plot will generate £YYY which will give a good yield, typically 10% or more.

The reality is that the plot is not worth the price the investor is paying. They are being tricked into believing it is good value based on the projections of the car park management company. The investor is actually taking a bet on whether or not the management company is any good. In most cases, as with Aston Darby, the management company is brand new, has no history of running car parks and is owned by the same people who sold the plots to investors. Another organisation which sold car parking spaces to investors is Signature. You can read more about them HERE.

The standard outcome for these kinds of unregulated collective investment schemes is for the management company to either withdraw from the contract after a couple of years or to go bust. The investor will be left with a small plot of land which is worth one tenth of what they paid and is in the middle of one thousand other plots. Meanwhile, the developer has run off with the money.

The key people involved in Aston Darby are Leigh Heywood and Gregory Heywood. They have a history of involvement in a company where creditors lost a lot of money.

If you have invested in any Aston Darby investment offer involving any Aston Darby company please contact us. We may be able to help.