A company that traded off the public’s goodwill for the emergency services by publishing a magazine in their support has been closed by the Insolvency Service ICSM reports.
Print Monthly’s Carys Evans reported that The Hannay Partnership had failed to distribute any magazines and only printed a tiny number of the total they had claimed.
Carys Evans reported: “The Hannay Partnership has been described as using “unscrupulous behaviour” to trick companies into paying up to £7,500 a week in advertising.
“During a hearing on August 2nd 2019, the court heard how the company, which was founded in March 2013, claimed to publish three quarterly magazines titled: To the Rescue, Survivor, and On Call.
“Employees would unlawfully target advertisers through cold calling, where they would misrepresent print runs and circulations of the magazines, claim that the proceeds were used to benefit the emergency services and even pretend to be members of the emergency services themselves.”
Janet Bruce of Gloucestershire County Council said that a school in their area had received a call supposedly from the police at the end of term last year asking for them to advertise in the magazine. The school then received an invoice from The Hannay Partnership for £175 for the advert which she described as a scam as no such magazine was published.
The Wirral based firm was placed in provisional liquidation by the Insolvency Service in May and has been wound up in court in Manchester earlier this month after a petition was presented.
Carys Evans wrote: “An investigation by Insolvency Service however found that the company only printed a total of 200 magazines last year, none of which were distributed, nor any financial contribution made to benefit the services.”
Scott Crighton of the Insolvency Service said: “The Hannay Partnership manipulated the national goodwill towards our emergency services, using deliberately misleading practices to secure revenue that was then not used for the advertised purposes.”
“We welcome the court’s decision to wind up the Hannay Partnership in the public interest, stopping this unscrupulous behaviour in its tracks and ensuring that businesses and individuals that choose to contribute financially to our emergency services can do so in confidence that their donations will be passed on.”
The address attributed to the publisher appears to show a different business dealing in electrical supplies to the trade (pictured).
ICSM’s Ian Carrott said that print firms need to be aware of companies like the Hannay Partnership who request short print runs but appear to have no premises or history of publishing. Whether the print company who printed 200 copies of the bogus magazine was paid is not known.
“It could have been much worse as in the case of Neill John of Barry,” said Ian Carrott, “we constantly notify members of ICSM of these rogues, and hear from members who have been approached by such people. We put the word out to ensure those in the print trade are not caught out.”
For the price of a tank full of fuel a sole trader can join ICSM and gain protection from all types of businesses in all sectors across the UK.
For details call 0844 854 1850 or visit the website www.icsmcredit.com or email Ian at Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com