Two estate agents have been disqualified from being directors after they took part in a price fixing cartel. The move follows an investigation last year that resulted in five Somerset estate agents being fined more than £370,000 for secretly agreeing between themselves the fees they charged. David Baker and Julian Frost were, at the time,
A beauty spa manager has been granted an injunction against Harrods department store after it decided not to renew her contract. The case involved a woman who ran a hairdressing, beauty treatment and spa business called Urban Retreats from a concession within Harrods. In 2014, she agreed with the store to extend her licence until
A director of a haulage business has been disqualified for seven years after he sold company assets for his own benefit, leaving creditors unpaid. Gilmour James McFarlane was a director of Garden Haulage Ltd. His company went into liquidation in 2015, owing £38,670 to creditors. While the company was insolvent, McFarlane sold off assets including
The government has introduced new measures to protect company directors from identity fraud after research showed they are twice as likely as other people to be targeted by criminals. Until now, directors were required to register their personal address with Companies House. The records are public documents, so the information is available to anyone. This
Companies House has issued new guidance to help directors comply with regulations relating to identifying and recording who owns or controls the business. The owner or the person who makes the key decisions is known as a Person with Significant Control (PSC) or the ‘beneficial owner’. Companies must identify their PSCs when registering with Companies
The death of inventor Trevor Baylis saddened many people who had seen him on TV or used one of the numerous products he created. Baylis was perhaps best known for his wind-up radio which he proudly showed off on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World. He developed it after seeing the difficulty that governments in poorer countries were
A door company has been refused a court order to compel a longstanding supplier to continue providing it with products. Vibrant Doors Ltd claimed that after years of business between the two firms, its supplier Rohden UK Ltd suddenly terminated their agreement, without reasonable notice. Vibrant claimed this was unlawful and damaged its business. However,
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set to become enforceable from the 25 of May 2018. The GDPR creates a wider definition of personal data than the Data Protection Act. It covers all organisations in the public, private and non-profit sector and applies throughout the EU and beyond, even if the business itself
Two directors have been ordered to repay £758,020 after they acted unlawfully in removing funds from their business to avoid paying creditors. The company installed solar panels, and in its early years it benefited from a government incentive scheme. However, it got into difficulties and went into liquidation. The High Court heard that the directors
A firm that bought a clothing business from a group of family members has won a court injunction to prevent them setting up in competition. The court heard that the family had sold their business for a substantial sum. The new owners employed the family members under contracts containing restrictive covenants preventing them setting up