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Slipped disc: Dorset entrepreneur needs ideas on how to shift 10,000 Lance Armstrong DVDs

USADA ban followed by Oprah confession leave businessman with a lot of unwanted stock on his hands

A Dorset entrepreneur is looking for advice on how to shift 10,000 Lance Armstrong DVDs he cannot now sell due to the disgraced cyclist’s lifetime ban and subsequent confession to doping.

It sounds like the plot of an episode of Only Fools & Horses, but Karl Baxter from Poole certainly isn’t laughing as he struggles to come up with ideas of what to do with the pile of DVDs, reports This Is Dorset.

Mr Baxter says he bought the DVDs for his business Wholesale Clearance UK prior to the scandal erupting around the former US Postal rider, although the website doesn’t say exactly when he acquired them.

Nor does it explain how exactly he came by them – although we’re guessing the vendor was whistling cheerfully and had a bit of a spring in their step after the transaction had been completed.

He explained: “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,” continued Mr Baxter with what, in hindsight, is commendable understatement. “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,” added the businessman, whose activities include dealing in bankrupt stock.

“This is one of the few things I’ve managed to buy that has come back to bite me,” he went on. “I’m paying storage on them. I’ve got a few at the warehouse to show customers.”

Now, he is open to suggestions about what he could do with the unwanted DVDs and has come up with a couple of ideas of his own.

“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.

He concluded: “I just wish he had either kept his mouth shut a bit longer or not done it in the first place.”

Do you have any ideas about what Mr Baxter could do with 10,000 Lance Armstrong DVDs? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks to Adam Tranter of Fusion Media for the spot.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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19 comments

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Daclu Trelub | 11 years ago
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"This time next year Rodders, we'll be millionaires."

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TrotNixon | 11 years ago
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He should offer the DVDs to Phil Liggett for a slight discount. That jagoff might take this bad investment off the gentelman's hands.

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mattsccm | 11 years ago
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They make great airgun targets.

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aende | 11 years ago
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My 3 year old daughter is a master at trashing DVD's. Suggest, I take the lot and give them to her for a day - sticky, scratched and used as Frisbee's.

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Gero | 11 years ago
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I'm sure there are still a few fanboy's out there still in denial that would buy them.

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KiteKim | 11 years ago
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Find some way of selling them to schools to educate kids about morals and right & wrong

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LeDomestique | 11 years ago
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Could be Christmas 2013's "ironic" gift of choice.!

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antonio | 11 years ago
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He could do as Lance did and mislead the public by re labelling them as 'Cycling for Beginners'.

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iammarcmason replied to antonio | 11 years ago
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hehe just found the listing for the DVD's and came across this;

Quote:

"Also widely known for being the first man on the moon, Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, making him one of the most successful cycling athletes in the history of American Profession Racing. However, as a result of Red Bull’s recent marketing campaign involving a sky dive from outer space, Armstrong lost his record of being the highest sportsman ever to adrenaline junkie Felix Baumgartner."

Made me chuckle, hope he gets rid of them and makes some return.

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bike_food | 11 years ago
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Maybe he could take them to hm... oh yeah, alright how about blockbus... ok maybe not.

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Roberj4 | 11 years ago
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Buy one get 200 FOC

Spoke/Cassette protector (supply to Trek USA!) ‘LA’ special edition.

Spoke reflectors

Gun clubs for target practice.

Deluxe windscreen snow scraper.

Revolving silver hub cap discs that spin (bulls**t) in the wind. Popular in the USA.

Loo roll holder for both sides of the roll. A nice daily reminder of ‘LA’ while ‘dropping the kids off’.

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trek7000 | 11 years ago
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Does this mean that libraries have to list all of Lance's previous autobiograhies under works of Fiction?

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Rupert49 | 11 years ago
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had a bit of a chuckle after reading this story  41

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The Rumpo Kid | 11 years ago
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"I was hoping the problem would die down." Not alone there mate. (Lance, Pat, Hein, Phil...)

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vorsprung | 11 years ago
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If you thread them on some string they are good for scaring birds and keeping them off the garden

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joemmo | 11 years ago
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try and flog them as road disc brake rotors to gullible early adopters?

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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Donate to a sculptor to make a piece of artwork around the anti-doping message.

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djcritchley | 11 years ago
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In the true spirit of the USA, he could always sue Armstrong.
 19

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bespoke-velo | 11 years ago
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i'm sure a pub needs some beer coasters!

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