Council tax firm shut down for ‘flouting’ consumer law

Huddersfield-based Reband (UK) Ltd was yesterday wound up in the public interest by the High Court in Manchester following the probe by Company Investigations of The Insolvency Service.

The company, operated by banned director Jack Darrell Henry, a former owner of Scarborough FC, was found to have secured refunds for just seven of the 1,167 householders it contracted with between August 2011 and February 2012, who had paid upfront fees totalling £200,930.

The firm made unsolicited calls and visits in which it gave “misleading and inaccurate” information to induce householders to pay an upfront fee, typically £175, the investigation found.

Householders were told the firm could have their property’s council tax band lowered and were assured it had “helped thousands of people” get refunds worth “hundreds of thousands of pounds”.

The investigation also found the company failed to make VAT and PAYE Income Tax payments to HM Revenue and Customs, and was still under the control of Mr Henry, who claimed to have resigned as director earlier this year.

Mr Henry, also known as Darrell Littlewood and Darrell Rewston, set up the firm as Council Tax Review in 2009 despite being banned from being a director since another of his firms, Total Debt Management Group, was shut down in the courts in 2004.

He was given a suspended prison sentence in January after he admitted 14 counts of misleading customers in what a judge said was “a whisker away from fraud”.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards brought the prosecution after amassing a dossier of 680 complaints about the company.

In March, Mr Henry faced further legal action at an employment tribunal where he was ordered to pay around £55,000 to 13 former staff members in unpaid wages, expenses, holiday entitlement and pay in lieu of notice.

The Insolvency Service investigation noted the claimants had still not been paid.

It also found the firm failed to inform customers of their cancellation rights; failed to refund money to those who did cancel; withheld information about advance fees and commission and made unsolicited telephone calls to householders registered on the telephone preference system.

Investigation supervisor Colin Cronin said: “Reband (UK) Ltd grossly misrepresented its ability to secure council tax refunds for householders and its sales methods flouted legislation designed to protect consumers. These proceedings make clear that the Insolvency Service will take firm action when the public are deliberately misled in this way.”