One customer says he is more than £30,000 out of pocket and after a year of excuses with no work done, as claimed – and his van left burnt out. ‘I trusted him. It’s broken my heart. It’s just devastating.’
A man behind a failed campervan conversion business is being accused of taking thousands of pounds in payments and not completing work(Image: Reuben Williams)
A man with a collapsed van conversion business in Cornwall says he is “devastated” for customers after leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket, with the workshop now burnt to a crisp and no insurance to cover the losses.
Luke Wilkes, of Camborne, let down at least two of his customers after taking on van conversions but apparently never completing the work. In some cases he issued full refunds after months of delays and threats from other disappointed customers, but two have been left completely out of pocket, with no vehicle and owing thousands.
The 41-year-old, who ran Wilkes Vans Ltd, which was dissolved in July 2024, according to Companies House, having been struck off, saw his workshop destroyed in a fire just weeks ago, on May 2. The company was first incorporated in September 2022.
But in damning messages following the fire, he even told one client his van was almost finished. Reuben Williams, from Helston, said he visited the burnt-out site to find no work was ever completed on his vehicle, which was in Luke’s possession for nearly a year, before it went up in flames. Luik had also made repeated promises that it was almost completed, bringing up a series of claims about unwell family members.
Reuben says he spent more than £30,000 on the project from the purchase of the van, the cost of converting it and the handing over of expensive equipment to Luke too. He’s got no idea where the gear, which includes QLED TVs and surround sound, is today. He says there is no evidence it was ever fitted, despite being told in January that the project was nearly completed.
“My camper van was meant to be completed in December/January,” Reuben told CornwallLive. “It was for my daughter and me. I messaged and rang on May 11 asking if it could be collected for half term so I could take my daughter away and he still lied, saying it would be ready for the end of half term when the van was burnt out on May 2.”
Reuben’s van before handing it over to Luke Wilkes(Image: Reuben Williams)
Reuben said he had a message from Luke the previous month saying the business was being dissolved as he was running up debts and couldn’t keep it going, but promised to complete his vehicle first. Three weeks later, the entire workshop and its contents were destroyed in a fire at the rented workshop site at Park Bottom, Illogan.
He said he now feels Luke lied to him for months every time he checked in for an update. “It’s my dream for my daughter and me. [Luke] had [the van] for about a year. It angers me because I thought family comes first and he should do what he needs to do. Every month, looking back at the messages, it was just constant lies. Before January, he said it was 90 per cent done.”
Reuben says he has been to the workshop to investigate and found no signs that any work was ever carried out. “Everything he said was done wasn’t done. It’s broken my heart. It’s just devastating.”
Reuben says there are no signs any work was ever carried out on his vehicle(Image: Reuben Williams)
“I trusted him. I said, ‘You’ve had it this long, just please get it finished’. People are saying to claim on my insurance, but I shouldn’t have to suffer and have my premiums go up.”
He adds: “My van was completely empty with no resemblance to any work being carried out. He had all the money off me to complete the van and all the contents I bought as extra.”
Jake West has also been left devastated by similar events. He gave over his van to Luke to be converted into a campervan in November 2025. “Since then, we have experienced months of delays, excuses, broken promises and requests for more money while being repeatedly prevented from properly viewing the progress on our van,” he shared in a social media post to warn others.
“We were due to collect the van on 2nd May 2026, which I’ll add was the same day the fire happened, many circumstances around it have raised serious questions.
“At this point, we are owed around £12,000 and still do not have our van back as it’s completely destroyed. Since speaking out, we have already had six other people come forward claiming they have experienced similar situations.”
He said he’s also tried to approach Luke’s parents and his wife, but has “got nowhere”. Others have also come forward, including two women who were able to get their money back after Luke did not complete the work on their vehicles.
Jake’s van following the fire(Image: Jake West)
Mandy Wall said Luke had her van for over six months to fit a pop-up roof. “We paid up front as he had to order it, which he never did. Excuse after excuse, lie after lie. Took more money for a radio, etc, which he never ordered either. We finally went to pick it up, thinking it had all been completed. He’d done none of it. We gave him a week to return our money, which luckily for us, he did.”
Another paid a £800 deposit for work in the summer of 2025. Louise Allen said there was delay after delay and broken promises. She said she was able to threaten to take her experience to social media and she was also able to get all the money back.
Luke has told CornwallLive he is aware that both Reuben and Jake are a “substantial” amount of money out of pocket. He said he is “absolutely devastated for them” but there is no money to return to them.
He said he too has lost an unrecoverable amount of items, including his place of work, his tools and other valuable gear to the fire, which he says occured when he went home for his lunch break.
“I estimate to have lost many thousands of pounds worth of property in there, but stupidly and unfortunately, I didn’t have insurance. Money was just so tight it’s regrettably something I didn’t have,” he said.
He also admitted to telling both customers that vehicles were “perhaps further along in construction than they may have been” but said that is “business sometimes”.
Inside the vehicle(Image: Reuben Williams)
“I will openly admit I’m not the best businessman, but I am certainly not an arsonist and shouldn’t be accused of such,” he said. “Business, in my experience, has always been juggling finances, but again I am not a fraudster and there is no separate pot of money from each customer. There are bills to pay both at work and at home and ultimately I have probably never charged enough for my services.
“I also find it hard to turn away work and am definitely guilty of taking on to much sometimes therefore I have had to pay people back before instead of completing their work – definitely not a crime.”
He further added that his mum, who was often helping him in the workshop, was diagnosed with leukaemia and started undergoing treatment six months ago. “This had a massive effect on my workload and on myself emotionally, but certainly not an excuse,” he said in response to suggestions he may have lied about medical appointments.
Finally, he said he has received constant phone calls and even death threats regarding the situation – including one occasion on which the police had to be called – but maintains that the only possible resolution is for customers to take him to small claims court, as he simply has no money to give. “Regarding refunding of their money, I simply do not have it. There was never any spare money or saved money.
“Reuben and Jake need to take me to court and claim their money that way, through a legal route, so that when I secure a job, I can reimburse them on a monthly/weekly basis.”
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service shared details of the fire log at the time of the workshop blaze. It said fire control received several 999 calls reporting a building fire in the Illogan area at 9.54am on May 2.
Five engines from Tolvaddon, Hayle, Perranporth and Truro along with a water carrier from Helston attended. A spokesperson said: “The building was totally destroyed by fire and the cause was accidental.” We have asked for an update on this incident.
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “We were made aware following a report of fraud/arson relating to a campervan conversion agreed between two parties in the Redruth area. It was reported that work was not completed as agreed and that the van was then damaged by fire.
“Enquiries into the matter are ongoing.”