Do not pay, he was not the customer, the garage who asked you to carry the work out was. Nothing to answer for with this Karen

Don't pay a penny. If they want to take you to court just let them. If you cave in you will end up with a lot more customers trying it on.

Don't pay it Lee. Stand your ground. Hopefully there will be an email trail you can refer back to

MGB Hi Lee I remeber this story well. I have had legal issues many years ago in a business I had, The one thing I learnt was dont take people to court cos it costs a fortune !!! However ! If you are taken to court over something you truly believe you are in the right and I believe you are with all the evidence, then dont give in and pay. Fight your case in court defend yourself have ALL evidence with you and win your case. I wish you all the luck and keep fighting mate cos you are right 👍👍👍

Personally, I wouldn’t pay. To me, that’d be admitting liability. Maybe reach out to the blackbelt barrister. A UK based barrister with a KZfaq channel. Have a bit of a collab.

As previously mentioned, your contract and any warranty issues are with the garage not the end user, in my opinion I would not be offering anything as this would be admitting liability. Stand your ground mate.

Don't pay, it's a slippery slope. Don't accept responsibility.

Tell the MGB bloke to get advise from a lawyer, you will not hear from him again if he does. You have no contract with him and visa versa, your contract is with the garage who instructed you and you worked for (and who paid you?). He has no leg to stand on. Even if you did have a contract with him under The Cunsumer Rights Act he needs to give you a chance to rectify any problems before taking it elsewhere. Call his bluff, let him do it, it will take 18 months to go to court, you will learn a lot and he will probably have to pay you for your day in court For peace of mind call the barristers on LBC, 9.00 pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Lee, me, and Pete have spoken to you before on this. When someone sends you a letter saying they are going to take you to court, there is a process for this action. They will have to pay the fee depending on the amounts of claim, etc. Then, you will receive a court letter/form for your defence. The court will ask both of you to try mediation first. This is free. If you both can not agree on a solution, then the claimant can ask for a hearing date. This part is where most claimants bottle it. The court fee a quite a lot for this part of the claim. Now, if the claimant goes down this road, there is a big risk for them. If they fail to get a judgement against you, then they are liable for all your costs. You are not liable for this bill, Lee. Pete said, "Where is his cosworth rocker cover. Court action number 2 😂😂😂

Nice one Lee John,Isaac,it's coming together nicely 👍🙏🏽💯

Oh no, not the saga of that MGB one way inlet oil trap breather valve thing again? Give me strength!

You worked for the garage not him so your contract is with the garage not him so don't pay him.

11:00 - electrician did a great job. You can never have too many sockets above a bench. Like in a kitchen really. 🙂

As stated previously by others his first arguement is with the garage who he contracted to do the work .They suhged to you for part of the work. They are responsible.

Speaking from a lot of experience the 1.8 b series engine the correct function of breather system is crucial to oil consumption and thats a fact with no grey area.

Unless there is undeniable proof that you are at fault, if you have evidence that the Garage one asked for the engine return unfinished then the breather issue is their issue to deal with. Had a similar issue with an MGB , the garage had no idea how to set up twin SU carbs , I set the carbs after I filled the dampers with oil, I used a rubber hose to balance the carbs. The other side of the coin my own car goes in for servicing, I am a 70’s trained mechanic that left the trade in early 80’s so not acquainted with modern electronics , sensors etc. That might be the problem , Garage number1 , do they have staff that are capable of dealing with 50’s,60’s and 70’s engineering.

Don't have those bins for nuts and bolts etc. out in the open - they will collect dirt and general muck. In my home workshop nothing is out in the open, everything is behind a door. Just saying 😊

Question is is there an email trail between you and the first garage, where they say they don't want you to do all of the rebuild. If not, you might well have a "he said" -"I said" issue.

Just Say no or you will be ever in "dept" with these people as soon as you pay the bill you are admitting liability thanks for the video and its getting a very nice workshop

I was an Alfa Romeo mechanic from the "60's to the 80's". We got around what you are doing by re-timing the cams if a higher lift cam was installed. Re-timing made the engine run better. I know, some people out there are saying "what the heck are you doing" but, I say I know what works and works very well. If any one wants an explanation, I'll be glad to respond. All the best to y'all at Barum Engines.

Do nothing. If you get a summons, counterclaim against him for a vexatious claim.

Your contract is with the garage not the customer. The garage should be the ones who should be talking to you about this

A neat practical method for getting the angle of pockets on alfa pistons! The. MGB things just won't lie down and die! Geez!!!

The workspace looks absolutely first class. This is something that pays much more than you ever think it would... Parts/engines coming in tend to be treated like the work area demands, beautifully clean, tidy and precise with the lovely clean tools pays dividends. Nice.

As many have said, your original contract was with the first garage. In any event he failed to give you an option to repair. ( the first garage DID) Zero claim against Barum.

There is no contract between this guy and yourselves so he has no chance. The only contract would be between you and the first garage.

Show the customer every bit of correspondence where the other garage told you not to do the work. There is no argument.

He is not your customer the first garage is. any argument he has is with the first garage and not with you. He did not issue you with any instructions directly.You were carrying out the instructions of the first garage only. He has probably tried to get money out of the first garage without success so he is having a pop at you. I doubt he has had proper legal advise soStand up to him.

I like the shop upgrades but you are in danger of re creating the same random mess you had before , but a shiny version. Those red boxes for the nuts and bolts just look a right mess and before you know it ,the clean area will just be cluttered up with the coffee machine/paperwork/books/random parts of other machines. I suggest you get some flat storage boxes with separate compartments . They can be put in the drawer when not in use, and opened up on top of the bench when you are using the bolts etc. One thing I have found is once you have created the perfect tidy area, you have to adopt a religious zelots focus on keeping it in a tidy shape. Also the torch chargers/battery chargers etc should have a dedicated place probably in their own corner of the office, or in one of the wardrobes. Remember its the clean area so unless it part of a customers engine it shouldnt be there. Yes its not easy but it does make a difference.

I wouldnt pay it but would communicate that to the claimant. How can he sue you for apparently rectifying work you did`nt carry out or even charge for??

If your contract was to build a working engine, and you did that, you arent responsible for the garages expense. What ever they did was their own liability. Theyd have to prove it was your mistake so its a confidence call. If you're sure you work was done as per the customer request, competently and without fault, let them take you to court. The garage he wants you to pay for would have to prove that they only incurred the expense because of what you did, not what they did.

£300 not worth taking it to court, let him try. But if you have evidence (email etc) that you were told not to do those bits of work that the other garage wanted to do it, hand it over and tell him from your pov your done and you don't want to see or hear from him again. Also don't work with that garage again and let them know that's the case.

As you were not employed by the owner of the car, there is no contract between you. The MGB owner cannot take you to court as he is not your customer and the contract is separated from him. He could only sue the 1st garage and for that matter the second garage as he has a contract with them

Having worked in customer service for a large custom food equipment machine manufacture for over 36 years I had plenty of what you are experiencing in my early years as i always trusted to many people. Take my advice, always get in writing what the customer wants, also bring any issues you find outside the work being done and get with the customer first before doing any extra work and get there ok also in writing what they want doing. After the work has been completed supply the customer with a detailed list of what was done. This may sound like a lot of work for a small company but it saves a lot of headache's down the road.

Get a lawyer that does engineering things. Dont get a divorce lawyer, whatever you do!

The PCV was not on the engine when it arrived at Barum Engines, so that’s that then ! No chance ! Try the garage that reinstalled the engine instead Mr MGB ! Other wise you have no chance !

From your description your contract for the MGB engine is with the garage and the end users contract is with what is that garage. Under the common law Privity of contract doctrine means that you cannot either enforce the benefit of, or be liable for any obligation under any contract you are not party to. Therefore the end user being a third party not named or party to the contract between BE and garage in question cannot sue or be sued under that contract

No, No, don't pay it's the principal of the thing, if you allow this guy to get away with it then everybody and his uncle will be bending you over the desk and it will never end.

He's watched your previous video a while ago when you said you'd paid a bill just to get rid of the problem. I'd tell him to take you to small claims, and you'll put in a counter claim. He hasn't got any evidence it's your fault, you've already bent over backwards to help him resolve the non-evidenced initial claim.

If you were told to refurb the alloy wheels, and noticed a screw in one of the tyres, but was told DO NOT TOUCH the tyres, would you be responsible if the tyre blew ? Of course not. If you have written correspondence showing there were jobs you were not to tackle, that later caused an issue, this is as clear cut a case as you will ever see - your not responsible. Plus, as has been mentioned numerous times, only the party that had the contract with you can take you to court, ie the other garage. Only THEY know what work was authorised, despite whatever they told their customer. I feel for the customer - he has clearly had the runaround, but, it's simply not your problem. paying up will put you on a slippery slope with future cases.

I expect you will give in and pay him no matter what is said . It makes you an easy touch for any chancer . PS can you pay my MOT bill ....

Call there bluff, never admit to liability.

Yes Lee I do remember this job. Personally I wouldn`t pay. If everything you say is correct there ain`t no way that you are responsible. Go and see your solicitor and send get him letter explaining your side of it. If he then goes to his solicitor with the letter no way will he advise him to proceed. I think you have been very fair with the situation.

Not a professional mechanic, owned a 1098cc Sprite, and once I saw the PCV breather said to myself that was the source of the problem. As I recall, you took it apart, inspected and even installed new piston rings. Your work was effective as far as I could tell, and there was no call for you to do anything beyond the machine work and assembly. It was NOT defective and you went way beyond reasonable requests. With multiple shops involved, look at your invoice and if you did what it called for, any costs should be billed to the shop or owner, depending on who asked for the teardown. Again, it was owner/shop error to fail to fix the ruptured diaphragm, and you should not be responsible for anything at all as the error was on their part. So far, you did the job twice, and they want more. I would not pay a penny, and would consider giving them a sample invoice for the work done subsequently when the original work was done properly and all after was due to their error. Proffer a bill to the owner who got you involved in his muddle with the garages... tom

Very agricultural, but if it works it works. Thats why i fell in love with manual machining!

I would agree with all the other posts that say that the contract this person has is with the specialist and not you. Your contract is with the specialist. He should be suing the specialist and then the specialist should sue you. Hopefully you will have some written instructions that make up your contract with the specialist, confirming what work they wanted you to do. It would be worthwhile getting written confirmation of work for all your new contracts, moving forward, if you don't already. I would suggest that the specialist has told him to get lost so he's trying his luck with you.

It really depends how much evidence you have between you and the original garage. If you can prove they wanted a part built motor I would say your not libel

Don't pay, so long as you have proof that the 1st garage told you not to fully build the engine and that they wanted to finish the build off. What comms do you have about the "things" you thought needed to be done but you were requested not to? How/where in the engineering work does checking the breather box fit in??? My qualification Hantspol for 25 years & 3 stripes.

Don’t pay, a few things 1) the other party doesn’t have any standing in contract with you. 2) Your contract is with the garage not the individual 3) the law is intended to restore the parties to the position they were in before a breach, your carried out repairs, what’s is the actual loss? 4) Your terms of sale with the garage should include a no limitation of liability clause, if not you need to kick your solicitor. 5) launch a counter claim for your costs in discovering the split diaphragm which was not part of the scope of the original supply. Don’t give in to this bully.

if you were told NOT to do certain work by the first garage, then the owner cannot later ask for you to pay for someone else who did the work. tell them to SOD OFF, and name and shame the shonky garage.

When I worked in a workshop I had all my spanner’s in racks in my toolbox, now I work mobile I still have those (snap-on) ones loose in a drawer’and 2 sets of sealey premier in the foam trays in with the loose ones, good spanners and can’t go anywhere in foam tray

He is not your customer. He has no legal basis to sue you

The thing to bear in mind is that he hasn’t taken you to court and obviously won’t/can’t practically for such a small sum, even if he did have a theoretical case, which it seems he doesn’t. Many people hold the misconception that if they want to take you to court then they can, but first there has to be a case to answer - you can’t make up your own version of the law! Just ignore him.

Hello Lee, So, the story you tell here says clearly that you have the job from the garage and you have the deal with them. If you told this garage there was some bits and pices that needs to be changed from their side and they dident do it then its their problem, you are only responsibel for the work that the garage asked or order you to do so if you have that conversation on mail so you can verify it you shouldent have any problem at all. Thanks for good info about your work and how you and your guys solve and do different engine jobs i follow all your movies. Br/Anders 🙂

Lee New workstation looks awesome! Your taking Barum engines to a new level 👌👌

I would stand my ground and not pay that bill. The previous garage asked you to send it back in that condition so they can complete the job. Also, was all the video that you took showing the issue? I'm sure that it will stand up in court even if it goes to the high court. The customer is going to have to eat the bill because he's the one that chose the garage to do the job. And if you pay it, other customers may try to make you pay for things that you don't need to pay for down the road.

Impressed with the way you think outside of the square !

Go to court, go him for all the lost time and expenses dealing with him

Let them take you to court, they don't have a leg to stand on. Make sure all your paper trail is printed and given to the courts.

On your bike mate. You've paid enough towards his bills by now Lee. As for the new room Lee it's a credit to you and your father in-law id say money well spent.

I'd not give the guy a penny. Your “contract” was with the garage and you did everything they asked you to do.

It's simple. Your customer was the garage. If the garage's customer wants to sue someone then he has to go back to that garage. There was no contract between the garage's customer and Barum.

Do not pay a penny of the extra bit they are asking for, you are more than reasonable and when I had had a query with my cossie engine you did you couldnt have been more helpful!

If you have it written down from the garage stating not to do the work on various things then it should be an open and shut case, so ask a solicitor and go from there and also hold off on paying for now.

Have your day in court, I've had it twice with private parking, the judges are human / sensible, so what ever they decide go with that, and dont worry about it too much, with preperation etc. The worst is that they can get it the original claim + reasonable costs (£150 max)

Lee you have done more and paid more and maintained professionalism all the way through, He hasn't really got a leg to stand, reverse the situation and tell him you are taking him to court for wasting your mind and slander about you to the other garages! (I am pretty sure he has run you and your company down at the other garages)

Congratulations to Paul on his venchers, hope it all works out great, for both of you, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones

I like your improvisation. Very good.. A good way would be to use a S.I.P tilting rotary table. That is how we would carry out this operation on our S.I.P. Jigborer when working at Smiths Aerospace in the 60s. You will still need a fixture to hold the piston.

Don't knuckle under to this. May be less or no more to pay, but every time you roll over for these numbnutz encourages 5 more to go after you for something. The guy should be suing the original garage. The original garage should also pay the second garage bill as it was their choice to supposedly do the work that the second garage did. I grew up hating BS and bullies.

Thing to bear in mind is that the "burden of proof" is different in a civil court to a criminal court. In a criminal court, the burden of proof must be absolute - if you can't absolutely PROVE somebody did something wrong, the court MUST assume they didn't. In a civil court, the burden of proof is about "reasonable expectation" - if it's plausible that somebody did something wrong, the court might decide they did. In terms of this case, in particular, you might be thinking "We weren't asked to do a certain bit of work so we didn't do it and obviously that means it'll be impossible to prove we did it wrong". That WOULD work in a criminal court but it isn't so clear-cut in a civil court. In a civil court, the plaintiff might provide a bunch of statements from "experts" that says "anybody who does this bit of work needs to ensure that something else is correct or they're not doing their job properly" and a magistrate MIGHT accept it. You'd fight this by asserting that your scope of work was limited to what you did, and you can show that WAS done correctly, and that additional works were the responsibility of the garage who employed you. I'm going to assume that you have a fairly standard boilerplate contract that says you warranty all work on the condition that parts you supply are fitted correctly and that other parts are also fully functional? That's also something you can submit as evidence to support your position - that it was up to the garage to ensure the rest of the engine was fully functional and the torn diaphragm shows that the garage failed to comply with the terms of your warranty. The thing I'd be most concerned about is related to the cost of fighting this. It's going to be expensive for you - and you may not be awarded costs even if you win - but it's also going to be expensive for the plaintiff if they intend to make a good case, and all for 300-odd quid? The plaintiff COULD just pay the £50 fee, rock up at SCC and whine that you did a crap job but that shouldn't be enough to get them a win. If that IS all they're doing I'd wonder if they happen to be a member of the same golf-club as the local magistrate or something... in which case they're going to show up, moan that you did a crap job, you're going to spend a heap of time, effort and cash defending yourself and then the magistrate is going to find in favour of his mate anyway. Hate to say it, especially if you're confident of the quality of your work, but I wouldn't spend a lot of money fighting this. Maybe consult with a lawyer to ensure you're not overlooking anything and then just turn up and see how it goes. Not a lawyer but I spent 20 years as an engineer providing evidence for claims adjusters in an industrial engineering company.

Just pay it and make sure you get from him in writing that you are no longer responsible for any further cost.

Those screwdrivers that you didn't mention next to the hose are quality. My old work place sold them and the warranty is bang on, with the few returns we had they replaced everything even if the flat heads had been used as pry bars

For the sake of repetition you don't have a contract with the owner of the MGB, your contract is with the original garage and presumably that garage has a contract with the owner. If the owner doesn't want to pay the garage;s bill then that is between the both of them. Since the garage is not claiming any costs relating to any supposed defects from you then they must therefore believe that no claim exists. I cannot see how the owner has any basis for claim, even the Rights of Third Parties Act doesn't appear to apply. Simply tell the owner to get lost as you have no contract actual or implied with them.

HI Lee, the only ones who will win are the lawers - for goodness sake pay it but make sure in the wording that your offer is the end of the matter.

Good for you, Lee, with Paul. Plus you build relationships with shops like his.

Lee, regarding the M.G. It's good to get advice from others but it's really got to be down to how you feel about it, is the stress about it going to adversely affect your health? make the decision that's best for you.

I would get him to come to see you and explain exactly what you did and were asked to do. I am sure he should understand if he has any sense, that it is not your responsibility to pay the bill.

Lee just pay the guy it's just not worth the hassle and stress and the time dealing with these types of people , what little time you have running your business you want to spend with the family and not worrying about county courts , just a couple bits of advice I , you can find the tech to record every telephone call landline and mobile with customers , suppliers and other garages and you then have the time and date , the other thing have you upgraded the security system and secured doors and windows ? good luck with your future plans , 👍

I wouldn't pay it his contract is with the garage, not you another chancer from the sounds of it. Your workshop is looking amazing

If the tuning side caused the issue with what you found on the problem part, it isnt your fault, you did a good thing by paying the other bill. It seems pretty clear cut. It is a catch 22. Do you pay the 300 to keep him happy or fight him with the actual facts. Had something similar with a faulty re furbed vw caliper. Were he expected me to pay for new disk and pads after I fitted the caliper that stuck within 3 weeks. Sent the caliper back turned out it was faulty. These things happen. I paid for the disk and pads out of good will if he paid me back if the unit was faulty........ never heard from the customer again. Some people are just hard to deal with🤦‍♀️

I know this is totally different from you buy we made canal boats we sold a widebeam boat to a customer just the shell and expensive windows plus other jobs. He sprang a small leak in his stainless steel water tank . Which it turned out to be a small pinhole in the weld. He was told to stop filling it up until the leak was found but he didn't now he recons it's caused damage to the tune of £155666-90. That his solicitor is claiming for but we only charged him £33000. You get them sometimes.

MG Owner was NOT your client, the shop doing the work is... if they sue you it's a contractual matter that should be covered by what's written on your receipts. If the shop's client is unhappy he can only sue them, the shop is responsible to that client, and should be handling this matter. They seem to be pawning off blame on you for work you were not even paid for, what do your receipts say about warrantee and for how long ?

I am extremely stubborn about standing on principle and it seems to me that you guys have gone way above and beyond to point out why the carburetors washed down the cylinders and ruined the rings AND you paid for his bill at the specialists. If I recall correctly (and I might be misremembering), you asked him to bring in a qualified 3rd party engineer to verify that the rings were ruined due to the carbs washing down the cylinders and that is when he went away again with no response. Obviously a lawyer will be necessary to advise but I think you’ve gone way above and beyond to remedy this and I would stand on principle and tell him to jog on.

Same as everyone else is saying.. Probably no! Except the following, do you have correspondence from the garage fitting the engine with their request to supply sans parts mentioned, and what is the chap like? Is he worth keeping up the good will for future work?

DO NOT PAY! Let him do all the paperwork and send it to the small claims court who will send you the info so you can submit your side of things (not sure if your videos can be used) and then the claimant has to prove unequivalently that it's down to you. This is where he's taking a gamble because that 300 quid could cost him 4 times as much paying all the costs if the judgement goes against him

Agree, don't pay it. If the in between mob said don't do it then they are liable for it, not you. Simples

If you knew about it, and the first garage (your customer) knew and was Ok with it. You do NOT owe the second garage a dime. They are not your customer. Custom work is on the owner / first garage.

Nope. Don't pay it & let him know that when, not if his claim is dismissed, you'll be making a claim for ALL costs, both legal & personal.

So long as you have a written agreement with the garage for the MGB engine that states they didn't want you to do those bits of work, absolutely do not pay, give the owner copies of that documentation, and let him see that he has absolutely no leg to stand on. If it was all verbal, it's harder to say.

Hi Lee there is only 1 solution to this: take him into the car park and assert your dominance

you did the right thing by paying the other bill. let this one play out in court i hope everything turns out correctly

seem to always have a lot of issues with customers not happy or not paying.... makes one think

If the other shop asked you not to do it, as long as you can prove that, I say don't pay

Here in Australia, we have Repco, I recommend them over Kingcrome,SIDCROME, or Snap-on,you walk in with a broken braker bar, ask for the square, walk out with a new one,even with hammer marks on the handle, shops looking very "professional "😂 be a pleasure to work in ,thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones

With the way the courts work over there, your legal counsel will tell you to pay it. And that's because if you lose, you may have to pay his legal expenses too. Small claims may be different, but I'd advise talking to a legal professional and contract with them to help you write contracts to prevent this type of stuff.

Lee send him a solicitors letter telling him you would be happy to go to court and when he loses he will have to pay your costs ( all of them )

if you can document that you were stopped from doing the needed stuff by the shop in the middle then don't pay and use the documentation in court. If you can't, then just pay it, even if it isn't right or fair. Was a, auto shop owner for 30 years.

Did you produce a defective product with the MG ? If so then pay the bill. If not then don't pay anything otherwise you are admitting liability and it will only get worse. Good to see you got the under-cabinet lights. I made a remark about that a few weeks ago and I see that they work well, except I guess the coloured lighting will only be used on your disco open nights.

Paying someone elses bill can be seen as an admission of liability, never admit liability or you will be surrounded by people who want something for nothing and know you are a soft touch for a few hundred quid! Just say NO! If you make a genuine mistake, offer to put it right, if your offer to put it right is declined, they cannot expect to get work done elswhere and get you to pay for it! You cannot pay people off, they always come back for more free money! Believe it or not I had a run in with trading standards over an MGB GT, which arrived at my place with the customer complaining of poor performance and an oil leak from the gearbox. The cause was easy to spot, as it had both the cylinder head and gearbox from a standard B series engine fitted (the green paint was the giveaway) and it was leaking oil from the gearbox input shaft as the spigot bearing in the MGB crank was much bigger than the gearbox shaft. I made up a new bearing to fit the gearbox and replaced the seal, explained the position to the customer and told her to go to trading standards and get them to Take up the case with the garage she had bought the car from (only months previously) as what she had been sold was NOT an MGB! Trading standards came back to me and tried to say I had not repaired the car properly. When I explained the situation to him he looked a bit pissed off, as he could see I was not going to accept responsibility for the problems, and now he had the prospect of taking on a much bigger garage (crooks) who has sold a bunch of unfit spare parts as an MGB. Never saw the car again. Your only liability in this transaction was to the middleman garage who ordered the work from you, if the work ordered was carried out in a "good and workmanlike manner" you have fulfilled your obligation to the middleman garage and have completed the contract between yourselves, meaning thatyou have no further liabilities either to the middleman garage or his customer. If you then agreed to do direct work for the customer, that is a new contract, and has no bearing on your previous work on this vehicle whatever. Paying for work he has had done elswhere is an admission of responsibility for bad work you have done (or at least that is how a court would see it) This is why it is important to have a clear understanding of what the customer expects, and a clear idea of what is wrong with the vehicle. If you do not know what is wrong, best tell the customer that you will charge £xxxx to diagnose the fault, and then contact them again to give them an idea of the cost to fix it. I knew it was the engine breather at fault, because my knowledge of engine breathers and the faults they cause just happens to be from the right period of engine and car construction and my experience as an engine repairer during those years, your experience is different and what you do is a different job requiring a skillset I don't posess. Invairably when you try to help somebody out, rather than conduct a clear business contract, things go wrong, always try to underpromise and then overperform, and watch out for customers like this, they cost you time, money and stress! Phil

I'm not a lawyer or anything even close but I wouldn't pay the mgb engine owner a Penny, you did the work for a garage, if there was an issue with the garage it should be them chaseing you for money, not the engine owner. Let him take you to court if he wants, he will soon find out it will cost a lot more to do this than the 300 odd quid he wants, it sounds to me the garage has billed him 300 odd quid and he is trying to get it off you Lee.