Gmund Cars Ltd & Andrew Mearns FRAUD £1Million stolen

Johnd52 · 8 Jun 2019

It would be informative if the administrator were to investigate what SOR deals did actually go through the company, rather than Mr Mearns personal account. It would give the administrator a lot more leverage. One for the creditors meeting perhaps.

love154 · 8 Jun 2019

Pagoda1966 said:
'Shocking story from start to finish for the OP - not so worrying for Mearns who can now sleep well in between thinking about what name to choose for his next venture"

Don't worry about me, I'll survive but he really shouldn't be sleeping well at night, mark my words, he'll end up doing time over this and will be declared bankrupt. He got a knock at the door today in relation to the latter. Let's see how easy it is running a classic car business from HMP Wealstun.

I contacted Autocar about a month ago but like the Yorkshire Post, Harrogate Advertiser and Harrogate Informer, I guess they don't think 'Porsche Owner Gets Conned" is newsworthy.

Looking forward to the first creditors meeting which should be interesting !

This happen to my step dad from another company around 6 years ago he lost all his money and the guy that did it just got banned from being a company director there is no chance he will go to prison im sure its not a police matter.
he sold around 15cars and didnt pay non of the money. Im guessing you have a contract with him that he can sell your car and thats where he has got you becouse you have agreed to let him sell your car.

love154 · 8 Jun 2019

love154 said:
Pagoda1966 said:

'Shocking story from start to finish for the OP - not so worrying for Mearns who can now sleep well in between thinking about what name to choose for his next venture"

Don't worry about me, I'll survive but he really shouldn't be sleeping well at night, mark my words, he'll end up doing time over this and will be declared bankrupt. He got a knock at the door today in relation to the latter. Let's see how easy it is running a classic car business from HMP Wealstun.

I contacted Autocar about a month ago but like the Yorkshire Post, Harrogate Advertiser and Harrogate Informer, I guess they don't think 'Porsche Owner Gets Conned" is newsworthy.

Looking forward to the first creditors meeting which should be interesting !

Click to expand...

A classic car dealer who sold six cars without their owners' permission has been banned from being a company director for 12 years.

The Insolvency Service said that Andrew Stansfield, who formerly ran Lancashire-based Mercedes specialist Classic Benz Limited, has been banned from acting as a company director until at least 2025 after an investigation found that he sold cars without the knowledge or consent of their owners.

Claire Entwistle, lead investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: 'The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue company directors who deliberately breach the trust of customers and seek to personally gain from such action. Fair treatment of customers and creditors is essential for business confidence which is, in turn, essential for economic growth.
'Failure to keep proper records, particularly when a company is entering financial difficulty, is a serious matter and the law rightly treats it as such."

The investigation, which focused on the Westby firm's activities between March 2010 and April 2011, when it went into liquidation, found that Classic Benz Limited had sold at least seven cars belonging to customers as part of sale brokerage agreements, and had failed to pass on the proceeds, which totaled at least £129,250 to the cars' owners.
While the investigation also revealed that Stansfield benefitted from the proceeds of at least one of the transactions, it was impossible to verify whether he benefitted from the other six because the transactions occurred after Classic Benz Limited had been struck off the Companies Register, and Stansfield was unable to provide accounting records to the liquidators.

CCW attempted to speak to Stansfield with regards the Insolvency Service's findings, but he was unavailable for comment before this week's edition went to press.

The Insolvency Service added that Stansfield, 53, of Poulton-le-Fylde, has given an undertaking not to manage or control a company, or be a director of one, until at least 2025.
Classic Benz was placed into liquidation on 28 April 2011 with an estimated debt of £194,023.

This happen to my step dad from another company around 6 years ago he lost all his money and the guy that did it just got banned from being a company director there is no chance he will go to prison im sure its not a police matter.
he sold around 15cars and didnt pay non of the money. Im guessing you have a contract with him that he can sell your car and thats where he has got you becouse you have agreed to let him sell your car.

jonttt · 8 Jun 2019

991.2GTS said:
jonttt said:

If the business is no longer solvent they should not continue to trade and yet their website is still 'live", are the doors closed :?:

Click to expand...

The website could be up there for months or even years, depending on their hosting arrangement. I suspect it'll be there until they fail to pay their annual hosting fees.

However, the domain name appears to expire at the end of next month. So, it may disappear not long after that anyway.

https://www.whois.com/whois/gmundcars.com

The point I was trying to make was not really re the website but more that it is illegal to disperse assets of the company if/when you know the company is insolvent ie you cannot simply 'go around" telling creditors that you are insolvent (no longer trading) and then continue to trade eg pay your landlord, other supplier eg Porsche. In doing so you are disputing assets of the business with a preference to certain creditors, that is illegal :judge:

There is a fine line where a Director can hide behind Ltd company protection and acting illegally in a personal capacity. One of the easiest crimes to prove in such circumstances is the disbursement of company assets for personal gain (eg to setup another company) to the detriment of creditors AFTER you where aware that the Ltd company was trading insolvently ie cannot meet ALL of its debts.

I have been involved in several of these where I was a creditor. Whoever the creditors are they legally have to be contacted by an administrator appointed to liquidate the company. The problem being that if you are not formally recognised as a creditor ie the administrator is not aware of you then they will not know to contact you. There are ways around this eg the administrator will change the companies registered address to them at some point and so you can contact them then (if you don't find out who they are before then). The main creditor has a lot of influence on the process although this is normally HMRC as tax due often has not been paid. The important thing to remember is that the administrator is legally working for the creditors no matter how 'friendly" they are with the person the company appoints (yes the company appoints their own administrator, although the creditors can change this :wink: )

My normal process is to ensure that the administrator investigates what / where assets have been moved from the business in the months leading up to administration. Luckily in circumstances like this there are lots and lots of evidence of this ie pictures on the internet of his workshop and cars for sale (OP I would be taking screenshots of as much as you can, even equipment in his workshop etc......as they are likely to 'appear" another business, don;t worry even if the website is taken down there are ways of getting snapshots of it over time https://archive.org/web/)

Patience is a virtue now that he has tipped his hand. Usually amateurs at this rely too much on administrators (friendly) advice without actually realising that soon changes once with process has started as creditors actually control the process to a large degree.

I really hope he is reading this. He operates in a world which is populated by a lot of people who lets just say have more experience in business than he does. There will be / is lots of 'free" advice available to the OP and other aggrieved creditors from the Porsche community. If/when he makes things formal my guess he will just make it easier for aggrieved parties to actually go after him and his Mrs personally (I have seen enough evidence to suggest that she legally was still acting as a Director of the company ie you can;t hold yourself out to be 'your family business" and then deny any culpability, as a solicitor / someone in public office it could be even more serious for her). They have a nice house

And if he thinks he can just setup another garage in this day and age :hand:

jonttt · 8 Jun 2019

Ps I should have also explained that an administrator has the power to 'reverse" sales / the disbursement of company assets which where made whilst trading insolvently. This would include the 'sale" of equipment to another legal entity (ie where he tries to move garage equipment outside of the administration process). This would in theory also include the recent sale of cars to new owners ie those assets would legally move back to the insolvent company to be sold for the benefit of creditors.

I'm obviously not aware of all of the facts with this case but I have seen very similar a lot from small Ltd companies. I just cut to the chance and go after the Directors personally where there is pretty clear fraud involved ie I'm not really interested in getting a 'piece" of anything that's left, I go for everything from the personally but you do need a good solicitor and throw some money at it. The best way is to get together with some other creditors affected fraudulently and take a joint action against Mr and Mrs Mearns :judge: I'd want him living in a bed sit even if it cost me some money :bandit:

Kryton · 8 Jun 2019

jonttt, a couple of good posts which should help the OP :thumb:

ragpicker · 8 Jun 2019

Really interesting and informative stuff Jon :thumb:

Pagoda1966 · 8 Jun 2019

ragpicker said:
Really interesting and informative stuff Jon :thumb:

...... which my solicitor agrees with 100% - thanks.

CarraraWhite · 8 Jun 2019

Pagoda1966 said:
ragpicker said:

Really interesting and informative stuff Jon :thumb:

Click to expand...

...... which my solicitor agrees with 100% - thanks.

What would be interesting to understand for a company going into Administration, as a means of settling it's debts and surviving.

Did Andrew Mearns deny any attempt to settle your debt through paying you with one of the cars he had in stock, as that is a clear attempt to manipulate the Administration process, which is all about settling creditor debts.

Pagoda1966 · 8 Jun 2019

What would be interesting to understand for a company going into Administration, as a means of settling it's debts and surviving.

Did Andrew Mearns deny any attempt to settle your debt through paying you with one of the cars he had in stock, as that is a clear attempt to manipulate the Administration process, which is all about settling creditor debts.

Good point. Well he certainly didn't respond to the written offer (less than 2 weeks ago) from my solicitor of the white 911 targa plus £15k or make any counter offer ......

911UK · 8 Jun 2019

jonttt said:
Ps I should have also explained that an administrator has the power to 'reverse" sales / the disbursement of company assets which where made whilst trading insolvently. This would include the 'sale" of equipment to another legal entity (ie where he tries to move garage equipment outside of the administration process). This would in theory also include the recent sale of cars to new owners ie those assets would legally move back to the insolvent company to be sold for the benefit of creditors.

I'm obviously not aware of all of the facts with this case but I have seen very similar a lot from small Ltd companies. I just cut to the chance and go after the Directors personally where there is pretty clear fraud involved ie I'm not really interested in getting a 'piece" of anything that's left, I go for everything from the personally but you do need a good solicitor and throw some money at it. The best way is to get together with some other creditors affected fraudulently and take a joint action against Mr and Mrs Mearns :judge: I'd want him living in a bed sit even if it cost me some money :bandit:

JonTT, again some great insights there :thumbs:

911uk is with Anthony all the way here, we are certainly not giving this up.

We all can help to make sure Andrew Mearns doesn't spring up another guise in any of the Porsche Magazines, GT Porsche, Total 911, Porsche 911 & World, Porsche Post or on any of the clubs PCGB or Tipec, if anyone sees him operating any kind of Porsche business you let all of us know, on or off the radar.

Since Andrew and Samantha Mearns are both reading this thread, you both know how to settle this, as I'm sure the 15,557 residents of Knaresborough would want to "read" more about this.

FZP · 8 Jun 2019

I only hope that Andrew Mearns loses everything, including his home. He's lucky that Pagoda is pragmatic, because I'm not so sure I would be. Some travellers would take that task on for sh1ts and giggles.

GARY S · 8 Jun 2019

As jonttt has said, the "Law" has moved on somewhat to prevent unscrupulous traders hiding behind the "Front" of a Limited liability Company. Lets hope we see these powers used by investigating/prosecuting authorities here if appropriate.

easternjets · 8 Jun 2019

As mentioned previously I think that Samantha Mearns is culpable in all this, she may hide behind a front of respectfulness by being an elected councillor and a Solicitor but in this area we all knew years ago that Andrew/Gmund was 'at it' with other customers cars when she was a member of Gmund cars Ltd, resigning doesn't absolve her of being part of the fraud.

I'm just wondering how you stand with a dodgy handshake and no written contract, 'yeah mate leave your car with me and I'll sell it for you and take my cut'. Personally I can't see how it can be classed as an asset, as the company have not taken legal title of the vehicle by buying it.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven and if this crook gets away with stealing such a massive amount of money then the law really is an Ass.

jonttt · 8 Jun 2019

love154 said:
love154 said:

Pagoda1966 said:

'Shocking story from start to finish for the OP - not so worrying for Mearns who can now sleep well in between thinking about what name to choose for his next venture"

Don't worry about me, I'll survive but he really shouldn't be sleeping well at night, mark my words, he'll end up doing time over this and will be declared bankrupt. He got a knock at the door today in relation to the latter. Let's see how easy it is running a classic car business from HMP Wealstun.

I contacted Autocar about a month ago but like the Yorkshire Post, Harrogate Advertiser and Harrogate Informer, I guess they don't think 'Porsche Owner Gets Conned" is newsworthy.

Looking forward to the first creditors meeting which should be interesting !

Click to expand...

A classic car dealer who sold six cars without their owners' permission has been banned from being a company director for 12 years.

The Insolvency Service said that Andrew Stansfield, who formerly ran Lancashire-based Mercedes specialist Classic Benz Limited, has been banned from acting as a company director until at least 2025 after an investigation found that he sold cars without the knowledge or consent of their owners.

Claire Entwistle, lead investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: 'The Insolvency Service will rigorously pursue company directors who deliberately breach the trust of customers and seek to personally gain from such action. Fair treatment of customers and creditors is essential for business confidence which is, in turn, essential for economic growth.
'Failure to keep proper records, particularly when a company is entering financial difficulty, is a serious matter and the law rightly treats it as such."

The investigation, which focused on the Westby firm's activities between March 2010 and April 2011, when it went into liquidation, found that Classic Benz Limited had sold at least seven cars belonging to customers as part of sale brokerage agreements, and had failed to pass on the proceeds, which totaled at least £129,250 to the cars' owners.
While the investigation also revealed that Stansfield benefitted from the proceeds of at least one of the transactions, it was impossible to verify whether he benefitted from the other six because the transactions occurred after Classic Benz Limited had been struck off the Companies Register, and Stansfield was unable to provide accounting records to the liquidators.

CCW attempted to speak to Stansfield with regards the Insolvency Service's findings, but he was unavailable for comment before this week's edition went to press.

The Insolvency Service added that Stansfield, 53, of Poulton-le-Fylde, has given an undertaking not to manage or control a company, or be a director of one, until at least 2025.
Classic Benz was placed into liquidation on 28 April 2011 with an estimated debt of £194,023.

This happen to my step dad from another company around 6 years ago he lost all his money and the guy that did it just got banned from being a company director there is no chance he will go to prison im sure its not a police matter.
he sold around 15cars and didnt pay non of the money. Im guessing you have a contract with him that he can sell your car and thats where he has got you becouse you have agreed to let him sell your car.

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed this post somehow, again without knowing all of the facts you have to remember that the Insolvency Services job in that case was to act as company liquidator in the public interest. They can then act as administrator 'in house" or effectively contract the role out to a 3rd party specialist administrator, either way their job is to maximize assets for the creditors NOT make a criminal prosecution. Usually you would wait for the outcome of the administration / realisation of the administration process and then it would be down to the credits to instigate legal action. The problem is that means spending money and lots just don;t bother / can;t afford to do so / do not realise and so the culprits get away without a criminal record as seems to be the case in the example given ie just because they did not get a criminal conviction does not mean that one was not possible. Do not expect the police to instigate that, they will simply take the view that it would not be in the public interest for them to do so and so you are left on your own to take civil action against them, the law can be an ass and as you may guess I have lost all faith in law enforcement in the UK with regard to none public interest matters, I've had tens of thousands of pounds stolen from business, evidence / proof / admissions of guilt on a plate for the police and they are not interested, yet they will happily 'do me for speeding" and waste a day stood by the roadside to do it as its in the public interest (I'm not arguing its not) but more and more people will simply start taking the law into the own hands at some point :roll:

The salient point in this is to prove to the police that its in the public interest to stop this con man once and for all ie he does it time and time again and has done for years, surely he has to be punished for that as the criminal that he is....and don;t forget about Cllr Samantha Mearns as well who is / has also been living off the back of the theft of other peoples hard earned money.

I'm a great believer in fate, it will catch up with them in the end.

Gmund Cars Ltd & Andrew Mearns FRAUD £1Million stolen

Johnd52

Hockenheim

love154

Trainee

love154

Trainee

jonttt

Monaco

jonttt

Monaco

Kryton

Montreal

ragpicker

Portimao

Pagoda1966

New member

CarraraWhite

Barcelona

Pagoda1966

New member

911UK

Administrator

FZP

Zandvoort

GARY S

Monza

easternjets

Paul Ricard

jonttt

Monaco

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