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A judge found Jack Barclay Ltd at fault for failing to arrange an electronic tracking service
Nevile AylingThursday 04 December 2025 09:21 GMTComments
open image in galleryProfessor Fares Haddad, right, famously fixed Harry Kane’s hamstring (PA/Champion News)
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A distinguished surgeon, renowned for treating England captain Harry Kane’s hamstring injury, has been awarded £37,000 in damages from the UK’s oldest Bentley dealership following the theft of his new luxury car.
Professor Fares Haddad, a world-acclaimed orthopaedic surgeon specialising in sports medicine, successfully sued Mayfair-based Jack Barclay Ltd.
The claim centred on the dealership’s alleged negligence in failing to arrange an electronic tracker service for his vehicle.
Prof Haddad’s Bentley Continental GTW12 was stolen from his driveway in January 2023. But when he attempted to claim on his insurance, the payout was refused because the car’s tracker system was not properly activated.
While staff at Jack Barclay, known for its prestigious Mayfair showroom and reputation as "gentlemen car dealers", had installed cutting-edge tracker software, a crucial subscription service remained inactive.
Mr Haddad, 58, said that he had assumed Jack Barclay’s staff would establish a continuous tracker subscription via Vodafone.
This understanding stemmed from conversations and email exchanges with a showroom executive in 2019, when he was considering the Bentley purchase.
open image in galleryThe Mayfair showroom of Jack Barclay (Google)He claimed a total of £78,643 from Jack Barclay Ltd, trading as Jack Barclay Bentley, suing for the return of money paid out under his HP agreement, which his insurers refused to cover after the theft - plus £4,000 for the cost of a replacement hire car.
And following a trial at Central London County Court, Judge Andrew Holmes ruled in favour of the surgeon, finding the dealership at fault in failing to fire off an email to Vodafone which would have kick-started the tracker.
“But for the failure to send the form to Vodafone, Prof Haddad’s losses would not have occurred – had the tracker subscription been incepted Prof Haddad would have taken the steps necessary to continue it,” the judge told the court.
But he went on to decide that the professor himself bore some blame for failing to notice there was no subscription in place until after his prized Bentley was plucked from his driveway by thieves in April 2023.
The judge slashed the award of £82,643 by 60 percent to £33,057 to reflect Prof Haddad’s “contributory negligence”, although with accumulated interest his total award will come to just over £37,000.
Prof Haddad is the clinical director of the institute of Sport, Exercise and Health with a special expertise in hip joint, knee reconstruction and major ligament injuries.
It was Prof Haddad who ended up saving the latter phase of then Tottenham forward Harry Kane’s 2020 season after the star striker – now at Bayern Munich – crocked his hamstring.
Kane underwent surgery for a ruptured tendon, and although he missed much of the Premier League season he was back in training by May 2020 and competing in the latter part of the specially extended Covid Premier League.
open image in galleryHarry Kane now plays for Bayern Munich (PA Wire)The year before, in 2019, Mr Haddad had bought his Bentley Continental from Jack Barclay in part exchange for his former car, an Aston Martin, on the basis of a hire-purchase credit agreement, the court heard.
The then brand-new model of the GTW12 featured a 6-litre engine and 8-speed gearbox, a top speed of 207mph and retailed for up to £200,000.
The car was stolen in 2023 and Mr Haddad went on to put in an insurance claim only to be refused due to the tracker not being operational, as per the conditions of his policy.
The surgeon’s barrister, Bradley Say, told Judge Holmes that he was assured when he bought his Bentley that “a tracker is standard on the car and I will set that up for you”.
“Mr Haddad made a particular point of asking him about the tracker when he picked up the vehicle because of the previous problems he had with the tracker on his Aston Martin,” explained Mr Say.
Later enquiries revealed that the tracker had been fitted and commissioned by a Jack Barclay engineer but was never registered due to a lack of customer details being supplied to set up a subscription, the court heard.
From the witness box, Mr Haddad said he never received a contract from Vodafone to set up a subscription for the tracker, but had understood that everything would be arranged by Jack Barclay.
“I assumed they were setting it up for me and that it would be activated and functioning, and that if I needed to do anything I would be told what to do,” he said.
“Because the Bentley was a high-end car and the after-sales support had been comprehensive, I believed that if anything needed to be done to the car, including in relation to the tracker, Bentley would contact me.”
open image in galleryA Bentley GTW12 (Supplied by Champion News)Mr Haddad claimed that, had the tracker been activated and had he received reminders from Vodafone to renew, he would have done so in the same way as with his motor insurance.
Although he was aware that the tracker subscription would have to be renewed after 12 months, he assumed it was done automatically via a direct debit.
However, defence barrister, Sajid Suleman, disputed there was any promise to activate the tracker by Jack Barclay staff, also arguing that the responsibility to activate the device “fell on Mr Haddad”, who was entirely to blame.
Giving his ruling, Judge Holmes found that the Jack Barclay sales executive who dealt with Prof Haddad had “agreed to set up the tracker”, which was an “assumption of responsibility” on his part.
Having undertaken to arrange things for the customer, the executive then probably “failed to send off the form”.
He said Prof Haddad, who he labelled a “patently honest witness”, admitted he was aware that the tracker was based on an annual subscription, but assumed that a direct debit had been set up when he bought the Bentley.
Prof Haddad had explained in court that it was not always easy for him to monitor his bank outgoings, as he has around 50 direct debit payments going out of his accounts each month.
The judge found that Prof Haddad could be excused for not noticing that there was no subscription in place during his first year as owner, but added: “I see considerable force in the suggestion that Prof Haddad had a responsibility thereafter to ensure that the tracker was activated.
“With each year that went by, the failure to notice or to check his records becomes more difficult to understand.
“The ordinary person taking an ordinary level of care of his or her own affairs would be expected over time to realise that he was not making payment, or receiving correspondence, about an important point in relation to the insurance of a valuable vehicle.
“In my judgment, he is 60 per cent to blame for the loss that he has suffered.”
The finding of contributory negligence against Prof Haddad meant his payout was slashed by 60 per cent from £82,643 to £33,057, although with interest he will get just over £37,000.
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