A POOLE entrepreneur is looking for creative suggestions after becoming stuck with 10,000 DVDs featuring disgraced former US cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Karl Baxter of Wholesale Clearance UK at Willis Way bought the discs before the seven times Tour de France winner’s name was fatally tarnished in a doping scandal.
Armstrong had persistently denied rumours that he had used performance-enhancing drugs, but last August decided not to challenge the decision of the US Anti-Doping Agency to strip him of all his competitive results since 1998 – including his record-breaking run of consecutive Tour de France victories. Last week he admitted, in a two hour interview with Oprah Winfrey, that he had indeed cheated his way to all seven Tour de France victories.
A rueful Karl said: “I bought the DVDs at a good price. The idea was to sell them in small job lots so traders could go on eBay, Amazon or car boot sales and sell them on.
“There was a slight amount of risk. There was suspicion but he wasn’t admitting to it.
“I was hoping the problem would die down and I would be able to find a home for them. Now I don’t think I would get a tenth of the money back.”
Karl, who sometimes buys bankrupt stock from stores that have gone out of business, said: “This is one of the few things I’ve managed to buy that has come back to bite me. I’m paying storage on them. I’ve got a few at the warehouse to show customers.
“I could make a tower or build a big dominoes track for my three-year-old. Armstrong has had a good life for the last 20 years. I just wish he had either kept his mouth shut a bit longer or not done it in the first place.”
Armstrong, who retired in February, 2011 while facing a federal investigation into the doping allegations, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996.
Although it had spread to his abdomen brain and lungs, he recovered after aggressive treatment and set up the Lance Armstrong Foundation – now Livestrong – for cancer support.
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