Virgo Healthcare Nottingham - on Watchdog

Paul_Varjak

http://www.cecops.org.uk/news/

Paul_Varjak

A relative of mine received a visit from BILLY DOCHERTY trying to sell mobility equipment...

www.stepshomecare.co.uk

Before calling at my relative's house my relative received a call saying they would be visiting to ensure entitlement because of Government cutbacks.

They said they were not selling anything but then proceeded to try and sell mobility equipment!

When I called them they said they were based in Long Eaton, which is where Amarjit Gill traded from. But my relative lives more than 100 miles from Long Eaton!

The owner of Steps Homecare is, apparently, Terry Gregory. Although claiming to be a limited company, they have no company registration number or VAT registration number. Their website has no privacy policy or any terms and conditions.

Does anyone know of links to Amarjit Gill?

Paul_Varjak

The owner of STEPS Homecare (Terry Gregory) is known to Derbyshire Police as being a person who took over the running of Amarjit Gill's mobility business after Amarjit Gill received and breached injunction orders.

Billy Docherty (salesperson for STEPS Homecare) is unknown to the Derbyshire Police Officer I spoke to. Billy Docherty's phone number is: 07956 625901.

STEPS Homecare is on: 0845 548 0500 which just diverts to mobile: 07765 056165. This is always answered by someone called PERRY.

Paul_Varjak

Amarjit Gill is due in Derby Crown Court on 14th March for a plea and directions hearing, charged with theft, fraud and money laundering.

Also due in Court are: Ranjit Gill (Amarjit Gill's wife), David William Messom and Samuel Peter Routh.

Paul_Varjak

Last year, Noble Health Consultants signed an undertaking, promising not to breach trading laws...

http://www.ilkestonadvertiser.co.uk/news/crime/mobility-aid-firm-rapped-1-4075780


Noble Health Consultants Ltd also calls itself:

1. Noble Independent Living
2. Noble Health Independent Living
3. Steps Homecare

Paul_Varjak

[Text removed by MSE Forum Team] is a director of the following businesses...

1. NOBLE FINANCE (UK) LIMITED
2. NOBLE ENERGY CONSULTANTS LTD
3. NOBLE HEALTH CONSULTANTS LIMITED
4. UK NATIONWIDE HEALTHCARE SERVICES LIMITED
5. DAY MOBILITY LIMITED (Dissolved)

Although not a director of NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING, [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] is listed as the contact for anyone seeking recruitment with the company. The sole director of NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING is [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] - presumably a relative of [Text removed by MSE Forum Team].

It is believed that [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] worked for [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] at both ABM Mobility and Virgo Healthcare. [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] is due in Derby Crown Court on 14th March, charged with fraud, theft and money laundering.

It is also believed that [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] employed [Text removed by MSE Forum Team]. Frettingham also worked at ABM Mobility and received a three year prison sentence for taking £31,000 from an ABM Mobility customer and attempting to get her will changed so that he would inherit £500,000.

As director of Noble Health Consultants, [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] had to give an undertaking to trade legally, following action taken by Derbyshire Trading Standards. Any breach of that undertaking could mean action take against Noble Health Consultants.

In mid 2011, [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] announced that an independent living centre would be opening in Long Eaton. This was to be a showroom for products sold by NOBLE HEALTH CONSULTANTS. That Independent Living Centre now trades under a new company name of NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING, who claim to have no association with NOBLE HEALTH CONSULTANTS.

Paul_Varjak

STEPS HOMECARE has a small glossy brochure. The problem is that the photos and text have been copied from various other websites. Some of the text from this brochure also appears on NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING's website.

This is further evidence that STEPS HOMECARE and NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING are linked.

Both companies sell BROOKS STAIRLIFTS (a reputable company) but have 'stolen' text from Brooks and used it for those own advertising. That 'stolen' text makes it appear that NOBLE INDEPENDENT LIVING and STEPS HOMECARE have been trading for many years; in reality, both have been trading for just a few short months.

Other text in in STEPS HOMECARE brochure has been 'stolen' from other reputable companies, including Oakdale Beds and DBS Bathrooms.

Paul_Varjak

From today's Derby Telegraph...

Derby_Telegraph_13_March,_2012 wrote:

TWO former Derbyshire mobility firm bosses are alleged to have stolen thousands of pounds from their elderly customers.

Ranjit Gill and David William Messom face charges including theft and fraud.

Gill's husband, Amarjit, is also facing charges, along with Samuel Peter Routh.

Each faces a different set of charges but all are alleged to have stolen cash from elderly people.

The allegations result from a two-year investigation by Derbyshire County Council's trading standards.

A council spokesman said the four were alleged to have "taken payment for mobility aids which were subsequently not delivered".

The fraud charges allege that the four accused misled people by telling them they would arrange for the delivery of mobility products, such as recliner chairs, adjustable beds and bath lifts, which did not materialise.

The council said, of the 25 victims included in the indictments, three were from Derbyshire, with the rest spread across the country.

The council spokesperson confirmed that Ranjit Gill was "sole director" of Long Eaton-based Virgo Healthcare Limited, which was dissolved in March last year.

And he said David William Messom was the "proprietor" of Lifestyle, also based in Long Eaton, which he said had "stopped trading but was not a limited company, so doesn't have to be formally wound up".

The spokesman did not want to comment on whether Virgo and Lifestyle were linked and said trading standards could not say how the other two accused were involved in the investigation as this "may be an issue in the case".

The crimes mentioned in the indictments are all alleged to have taken place between April 2010 and May 2011.

Ranjit Gill, 44, of Brackenfield Drive, Giltbrook, faces:

12 counts of theft to the value of £22,217

13 counts of fraud

Five counts of acquiring criminal property

One count of possessing criminal property.

Amarjit Gill, 50, of Brackenfield Drive, Giltbrook, faces:

12 counts of theft to the value of £22,217

13 counts of fraud

One count of acquiring criminal property

One count of transferring criminal property

One count of possessing criminal property.

David William Messom, 27, of Maws Lane, Kimberley, faces:

12 counts of theft to the value of £22,217

13 counts of fraud

Two counts of acquiring criminal property.

Samuel Peter Routh, 25, of Wilkinson Close, Chilwell, faces:

Three counts of theft to the value of £8,392

13 counts of fraud

One count of acquiring criminal property

One count of transferring criminal property.

The council spokesman said he could not comment on how many complaints trading standards had received about either of the two firms as this too "may come up in the court case".

The four accused are set to attend a plea and case management hearing at Derby Crown Court tomorrow.

Paul_Varjak

All four defendants pleaded not guilty today..

Ilkeston_Advertiser_14_March,_2012 wrote:

THE FORMER bosses of mobility aid firms in Long Eaton have appeared in court today facing charges of theft, fraud and money laundering.

Amarjit Gill, 50, who ran ABM Mobility in Long Eaton, and his wife Ranjit Gill, 44, both of Brackenfield Drive, Giltbrook, appeared at Derby Crown Court alongside David Messom, 27, of Maws Lane, Kimberley, and Samuel Routh, 25, of Wilkinson Close, Chilwell.

They all denied 37 charges connected with Long Eaton firms Virgo Healthcare and Lifestyle, both no longer trading.

The alleged offences, including the theft of tens of thousands of pounds from elderly people, relate to taking payment for mobility aids which were never delivered.

The four now face a two to three-week trial at the same court in September.

The charges have been brought as part of a two-year investigation by Derbyshire Trading Standards.

canary111

Derby Evening Telegraph Thursday, September 06, 2012

TRADING standards officers expressed their satisfaction after getting crooked mobility aids firm couple Amarjit and Ranjit Gill to own up to their £42,515 fiddles.
Graham Morgan, from the county council's trading standards team, said it had been a long investigation into their Long Eaton company – which had been known by at least three names.
The pair yesterday pleaded guilty at Derby Crown Court to 25 counts of fraud after conning their elderly and vulnerable customers out of their money.
Mr Morgan said: "We first began looking into this case in 2010. We had several complaints from members of the public about the company, which was then known as Virgo Healthcare Ltd."
The company, run from a house in Gainsborough Close, Gainsborough Business Park, Long Eaton, was originally known as ABM Mobility but changed its name, first to Virgo and then to Lifestyle.
Mr Morgan said: "We initially thought that the problem was selling tactics but we saw that it was actually something different."
He said the company had purchased lists of telephone numbers from operators which gave them contact details for elderly people.
Having acquired these, the firm used cold-callers to contact them and arrange visits for a salesman to see them in person.
Mr Morgan said the salesmen would then sign contracts with customers to provide mobility aids, like orthopaedic beds or stair lifts.
He said: "The complaints we were getting fell into two sorts. One was, after agreeing to buy the item, customers had decided to cancel. At this point they were legally entitled to do so and get a refund as long as the cancellation was within seven days. But they never got their refund."
And Mr Morgan said the second type of complaint was from customers who had purchased an item which was then not delivered to them.
He said: "We saw a pattern emerging in the complaints and started to investigate.
"We sought advice from a barrister on the charges and then got a warrant to search the Long Eaton property and seized business records."
Each of the 25 charges was for a separate customer complaint – the total value of which was £42,515 in either unpaid refunds or money for which no product was delivered.
Amarjit and Ranjit Gill, of Nottingham, pleaded guilty to all 25 counts, while fellow staff member David Messom, 27, of Nottingham, pleaded guilty to nine of those counts and Sam Routh, 26, of Nottingham, pleaded guilty to eight.
Messom and Routh were employed as managers in the firm and were increasingly used as a front for ownership in the business by Amarjit Gill. They will all be sentenced later this month.
Mr Morgan said: "It was a long investigation, the biggest and most time-consuming we have done in the county's trading standards."
"We are dealing with customers here who are elderly and quite vulnerable and we always go the extra mile in these cases.
"It is very satisfying to have these guilty pleas."