Counting the cost

ANGER . . . Wilfred

Reaction to the Miller case

The failed case, believed to have cost Oldham Council at least £3 million in officer time and legal costs alone, is now being scrutinised by a top lawyer.

And Opposition leaders want to know it why it collapsed leaving Oldham’s senior Trading Standards officer, Tony Allen, suspended.

Oldham’s Labour leader, Councillor Jim McMahon, said he felt physically sickened as the news broke.

He added: “The people of Oldham have been left with a legal bill the scale of which would horrify most reasonable people. To add insult to injury there is now a chance that Vance Miller will seek compensation from the council.

“What was the council to do? It had received hundreds of complaints and they kept on coming in hitting out at the business practices of his kitchen company. This meant the council had to do something — the public would not have tolerated doing nothing.

“The only people who will come off better for all this are Vance Miller, consultants and lawyers.

“There are many questions which will need to be answered, in the meantime the people of Oldham and the council leadership have plenty of time to reflect and assess what this could mean for taxpayers in the future. The signs so far are not good.”

The evidence for the case was gathered under the previous Labour administration, but the prosecution began after control switched to the Liberal Democrats in 2008.


Council blasted for botched investigation

JUDGE Jonathon Foster QC slammed Oldham Council for bringing the case saying attention had changed from Vance Miller to the shoddy manner of the authority’s investigation.

He discharged the jury saying there could not be a fair trial.

The judge said head of Oldham Trading Standards Tony Allen perceived an increase in complaints against Mr Miller in the summer of 2006 and decided to launch an investigation — but fortnightly figures showed complaints were reasonably steady.

He said Mr Allen’s desire to close the business down coloured his thinking and led him to lose his objectivity so he did not fairly evaluate the evidence.

He pointed out Mr Allen made misrepresentations to the Office of Fair Trading, gave a disingenuous answer to questioning, had no notes from important meetings, disclosed evidence far too late and gave alarming inconsistency and contradiction in his evidence.

During legal arguments, Mr Allen denied it was his intention to close the business down but later told the jury that was his desire.

He contradicted again by trying to strike a plea bargain with Mr Miller months before the trial, but even this was botched.

In one e-mail, Mr Allen suggested seizing kitchens and manufacturing equipment for evidence.

Mr Allen’s computer was routinely recycled in the summer of 2007, wiping off evidence, which the judge described as extraordinary.

Mr Allen had little evidence of a major police raid but then a police video of it was recently discovered in his cupboard.

Inexperienced officers had been put in charge of the case and Mr Allen did not know the details.

The raid itself “singularly failed to achieve its objective.”

In another raid in January, 2009, three cameras filming it ran out of batteries.

The judge said: “Whatever Mr Miller may have done, and I make no adverse aspersions, we shall never know.”


Vance: It was a vendetta

VANCE Miller is contemplating suing Oldham Council after accusing them of leading a witch hunt against him.

He accused the council of dirty tricks and said Trading Standards head Tony Allen had been on a personal vendetta.

He said the council had abused its power by acting as complainant, investigator and prosecutor.

The businessman claimed previous cases against him, including when he was jailed, had been orchestrated by Mr Allen. He said his firm had been thriving and employing 500 Oldhamers but been hindered by Mr Allen and now employed 100.

He said: “I’m not a dishonest person, which has been proved today. I will continue with my goal to build the most successful kitchen company in the world.

“I don’t hold grudges. I don’t care what happens to Tony Allen or his career and wish him no harm. But I want him to stay away from me and my company. I’m going to sort out every single problem. If anyone has a problem with any kitchen I have sold they can call my personal fax number on 01706-821 991 and I guarantee I will resolve it. The happiest thing for me is that I can get back to spending time with my children rather than studying court papers.”


Customer in legal threat

AN ANGRY customer of Vance Miller is threatening legal action against Oldham Trading Standards for bungling the case.

Wilfred Gathercole (68, pictured), from Suffolk, paid £965 for what was promised to be a superior kitchen. But it had wrongly coloured doors and panels, hinges and screws missing.

After weeks of wrangling, he even drove to Oldham to collect the right parts — but still couldn’t get it sorted and left with unsuitable doors.

He said: “My kitchen does not match and I’m two handles short that you can’t buy anywhere else.

“I’m so disgusted with the shambles Trading Standards have done. Vance Miller has made them look like children and walked all over them.

“We knew he would walk away as they had messed up. The complaints were about the quality, missing parts, the shambles and offensive customer services.”


Miller: a potted history
IN 2002, Mr Miller became the first UK trader to be handed a “Stop Now” court order to cease supplying sub-standard goods.

He was jailed for five months in 2003 after flouting the ban 13 times but his sentence was reduced on appeal to five weeks. In 2008, he was given a six-month sentence, suspended for two years, for breaching the order and fined £90,000.

In 2005, he was banned from running a business for nine years after being taken to the High Court by the Insolvency Service.

Maple Mill was found to contain a large amount of quad bikes during a raid that were alleged to be defective but a trial in December, 2008, was dismissed over the inadequacy of expert evidence.

Last April, one of the two mills burnt down in a massive blaze.