A SA professor of finance and law – working on an academic assignment in Switzerland – is seeking more than R400 000 in damages from Biddulphs International, claiming the removals and storage company damaged her classic 2006 Porsche by driving and crashing it, and then attempting to repair it.

A Weekend Argus report says Professor Anele Hammond has also laid a criminal charge against Biddulphs at Rosebank police station.

According to a filed summons, Hammond – an admitted advocate of the High Court – said she had entered into an agreement with Biddulphs in February 2024 to transport her vehicle and other items from her Clifton home to St Gallen, Switzerland. 

Hammond said that on her visit to Biddulphs to conclude the shipping transaction, Carlo Brown, the Biddulphs Cape Town branch manager, said: ‘Professor please drop your car off on a Friday so I can enjoy it for the weekend.’

‘I froze,’ she told Weekend Argus. ‘Seeing my shock, Carlo laughed out loud, pretending to be joking. To my utter dismay, I am in court today because my classic 2006 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S was driven on a public road without my knowledge and/or consent and severely damaged in the process.’

Hammond said she had drained all the fuel from her vehicle in preparation for its transportation.

According to Weekend Argus, she said that when Biddulphs used her car behind her back, they did not know which fuel the Porsche used and fuelled her vehicle with diesel instead of petrol – and continued to drive it until the engine was compromised.

She said that during this time the car was involved in an accident which damaged the body of the car.

In the summons, it is stated that instead of Biddulphs contacting Hammond to report the damages and/or taking the car to Porsche to be restored correctly, Biddulphs Cape Town used an unauthorised backyard panel shop in an attempt to conceal the damage and escape liability.

According to the court papers, in addition to the damage to the engine, the Porsche received damage to its front bumper, the front grille, the radiator grille, the front spoiler and the front protection bar and seat rail covers.

The court papers state Biddulphs has accepted liability, but is baulking at paying the full claimed costs amounting to R400 958.

Biddulphs’ SA’s lawyer, Claudette Dutilleux of CDH, said the matter was ongoing and that they had yet to file their plea.

Full Weekend Argus report