Vision Ireland donations van saga as small business says they are owed over €37,000 by charity

A Dublin towing company says Vision Ireland owes them over €37,000 for storing a charity van that is full of donations for almost three yearsThe van at Curran Recovery and Towing

A Vision Ireland van full of donations has been gathering dust at a Dublin towing company for almost three years – and the small business claims the charity now owes them over €37,000 in fees.

The saga dates back to February 2023, when Curran Recovery and Towing say they received a call from a mechanic who did some work with the charity at the time, requesting them to tow the van under instruction from Vision Ireland. The van was parked on Whitworth Road, where Vision Ireland’s head office is located. Mark Curran, who owns Curran Recovery and Towing, said he was told that the van would be collected by the charity within a week or two.

He told Dublin Live: “We recovered the van, brought it back to my yard, parked it up. We got busy, time passed a little bit and in July I started ringing NCBI (now Vision Ireland).”

Mr Curran said in July 2023 he got through to a Vision Ireland employee who said they had forgotten about the van and they would have it moved in a week. He told us: “I said, that’s fine and I sent him the invoice for the storage on the van. And then he just blanked me from then on. No contact.”

He added: “We proceeded again after a while, we were sending to NCBI head office invoices every so often saying, ‘look, this van is racking up good money here. Can we get it sorted? Can we get paid? We’ll return the van to your depot for free as soon as the bill is paid?’

“And not only all that, but this van is sitting there with donations inside. It is half full of donations of clothes, bags of clothes, everything in it.” Vision Ireland told Dublin Live they dispute “the basis for the van in question being taken to and held on the premises of the 3rd party, as well as the claimed storage charges”, adding that “no agreement, contract or arrangement of any kind exists between Vision Ireland and the 3rd party”.

A spokesperson said: “It is Vision Ireland who instructed its solicitors to seek to bring this matter to a close. Vision Ireland’s solicitors have been trying to engage with the company in question proactively and positively since June to resolve this issue.

“Unfortunately, the company has thus far failed to engage at all with the substance of the dispute and a proposal made recently on behalf of Vision Ireland whereby the vehicle would be retrieved by Vision Ireland without prejudice to each party’s position in the dispute. No response whatsoever has been received to this proposal.”

Vision Ireland confirmed the pre-owned van was donated to the charity by Carraig Donn, but said the van doesn’t contain any contents from Carraig Donn. “Any contents it may have are unsorted items from our stores, destined for our warehouse facility,” the spokesperson said.

“The reason why items that were in a retail van were transferred into an ‘out of service’ maintenance van, and who moved them, is also disputed.” Multiple invoices for storing the van sent by Curran Recovery and Towing to Vision Ireland have been seen by Dublin Live and total over €37,000, the most recent of which was dated on November 5 this year.

Mr Curran said he has left the van exactly the same way it was when he collected it in February 2023. “It’s a bit grubby looking now because it’s parked up in a yard for the last three years,” he said. “But the van is still exactly the same. The van drives, like there’s nothing wrong with the van.

“They are hoping I just go away but I cannot afford to let 40 grand to drop.” The Vision Ireland spokesperson added that the charity “processes over 150,000 bags of clothing, accessories and textiles” every year.

“These are hand-sorted in our warehouses and distributed nationally by a dedicated team who ensure that our 125 stores around Ireland are continually replenished with quality, seasonally appropriate stock,” they said. “We are very proud to keep 90% of all donated items in use, driving the circular economy, reducing carbon emissions and keeping textiles out of landfill, all while raising vital funds for the services Vision Ireland provides to blind and vision impaired people in Ireland.”

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