Italian Leather Jacket Man

trisontana

There is a guy (or there may be more than one) going round the country , accosting people in car-parks trying to sell them leather jackets. He spins a yarn on the lines that he has been selling the jackets at a big trade-show and has a couple left over. He says he needs to sell them quick so that he can buy enough petrol to drive back to Italy. The asking price is about £50 but the catch is they are not leather but plastic and way over-priced. So be warned.

If you think this is just an urban myth, think again. It actually happened to me at a service area on the A1 near Peterborough. Luckily my wife intervened and pulled me away before I completed the deal. Since then he has been mentioned several times on the BBC Three Counties Radio consumer programme and listeners have phoned in with sightings of him in various car-parks in the area. In one case the presenter tried to speak to him , but with no success.

Has anyone else come across this guy and have you (perish the thought!) actually bought a jacket from him?

BFG_2

Service stations on the motorway networks around a 100 mile radius of London are quite often full of dodgy blokes (often foreign accents (illegals??)) selling the usual 'tat' - most often watches. If I'm not in a hurry I enjoy leading them on and then annoying them by telling everyone else they approach to avoid the scam.

The best one they do is the BMW magazine advert watch. This is where they show you a genuine advert in the BMW drivers magazine where the watch is on sale for 650 quid. They offer it to you for 50 or 75 or so. The clever bit is that the watch is genuine, and the ad was placed by the wholesaler of the watch with the only intention being that it makes it easier to scam someone (I doubt if anyone actually bought any at 650, but that wasn't the point of the advert). Clever sods eh!!

PeteMc

Is this guy still around?

About 1985 I was offered the same type of jacket. He must be about 70 now

before_hollywood

50 quid for a fake leather jacket? a real one is only about £70

trisontana

PeteMc wrote:

Is this guy still around?

About 1985 I was offered the same type of jacket. He must be about 70 now

Yes , he's still around. Last sighting ,via Three Counties , was just last week..

hamchoi

There may be several of these guys doing the rounds. I encountered one in London near South Kensington tube station , a real fast talking smooth operator.

Poppy9

before_hollywood wrote:

50 quid for a fake leather jacket? a real one is only about £70

I think the trick is they show you a real leather one, get you to smell it etc then get you a new one from the van/car which is fake.

PeteMc

Does he still put the lighter flame against the jacket to show you it's real leather?

isayoldchap

trisontana wrote:

There is a guy (or there may be more than one) going round the country , accosting people in car-parks trying to sell them leather jackets. He spins a yarn on the lines that he has been selling the jackets at a big trade-show and has a couple left over. He says he needs to sell them quick so that he can buy enough petrol to drive back to Italy. The asking price is about £50 but the catch is they are not leather but plastic and way over-priced. So be warned.

If you think this is just an urban myth, think again. It actually happened to me at a service area on the A1 near Peterborough. Luckily my wife intervened and pulled me away before I completed the deal. Since then he has been mentioned several times on the BBC Three Counties Radio consumer programme and listeners have phoned in with sightings of him in various car-parks in the area. In one case the presenter tried to speak to him , but with no success.
Has anyone else come across this guy?


I went to Birmingham on the 27 January of this year and as I pulled into the Shell petrol station I was asked for directions to the airport.Then I realised this guy spoke with an Italian accent.I then spoke to him in Italian and then he tried to sell me some jackets from a car parked in the Corrida Shell garage.
I put in my petrol and said to him I was not interested.He drove off when I went to pay.

isayoldchap

PeteMc wrote:

Does he still put the lighter flame against the jacket to show you it's real leather?

That would have been interesting in the petrol garage

PeteMc

Indeed ! :eek: