I was sent on a wild goose chase after offering to buy a car for £250 – the cruel prank wasted 2 hours of my life

A DRIVER said he “wasted two hours of his life” on a wild goose chase after offering to buy a car for £250.

Charlie Murry, 51, offered mechanic Janis Drikis, 37, £250 in cash for his Honda Civic – less than half the £550 the owner asked for .

Mechanic Janis Drikis sent a hopeful buyer to a hospitalKennedy News

Kennedy NewsThe buyer had offered him half the asking price for his Honda Civic[/caption]

The buyer said the car was an MOT failure and “only good for scrap” because it had a blown turbo, meaning his £250 offer was fair.

But mechanic Janis was “sickened” by the offer, and decided to prank Charlie to teach him a “good lesson”.

The dad-of-two pretended to be happy with the bid and told Charlie to collect the car from a local hospital the next day.

When Charlie made it to the hospital, Janis advised him to “make an appointment and check yourself” for making a low offer.

Furious Charlie replied calling him a “rotten b*****d”.

Janis ended the message exchange by telling Charlie he was teaching him a lesson.

Charlie blasted the “trick” and said he “did not find it funny”

The dad had been helping out at his son’s scrap business when he offered to take the journey from Ballymoney to Newry, Northern Ireland, to pick the car up.

Charlie said: “It was an MOT failure and had a blown turbo on it as well. It said that in the description.

“He had it up for £500 and it was only for scrap.”

He added: “My offer was fair, it was only good for scrap. All he had to do was send to my reply ‘that’s not enough. No thank you’.

“I was pretty annoyed when I got there because it was an absolute low-down act to do on anybody.”

Meanwhile, Janis, from Newry, said: “I put the car for sale on marketplace for £550. I know there are people who are going to ask.

“I had lots of messages offering £450 and £400 and I don’t mind if someone asks like that. I would probably ask.

“But I got that message for £250 in cash and I thought ‘Jesus Christ’.

“It made me sick and I was just about to send some nice words but I sent him a thumbs up instead.

“He text back asking for my address so I gave him the address to a hospital. I thought I had to give him a good lesson.

‘MY OFFER WAS FAIR’

“He asked if I’d be there all day and I put a thumbs up. The next day he text saying he couldn’t find my house so I directed him to the hospital.

“He text me saying he was at the hospital five minutes later. I told him to go make an appointment and check yourself for making that stupid offer.

“It was a good way to teach him a good lesson. He called me a rotten b*stard.

“He came from Ballymoney, which is hours away. I feel sorry about that but it’s a good lesson for him.”

Janis says that the car was advertised as ‘ready for MOT’ and says that he’d recently paid for a new windscreen and tyres.

He argues that £550 was a fair price as the car would value at £2,000 after the MOT and although the car was ‘down on power’ it still started and was drivable.

Janis said: “It could be some sensor or worse case the turbo. A second hand turbo is £100.”

Charlie added: “Just say no like other people and there’s no harm done. I don’t know why he’d take it into his head and play this trick.

“Everyone thought it was smart and funny but I didn’t find it funny.”

The buyer said the car was an MOT failure and his offer was fairKennedy News