We wish to sincerely apologise to all our customers for the severe delays we are experiencing with the delivery of our beautiful hand-made models, and to explain that this is due to circumstances completely beyond our control, for the following reasons:

 

Our suppliers have both minimum order and price conditions in order to produce the superb quality of models we are accustomed to, due to the time taken with the design, pattern, sample, production and finishing stages for each project in each scale we produce. For this reason, we are dependent on appropriate trading facilities from our main bankers, especially in order to maximise the number of new projects which can be delivered each year, and keep our customers satisfied.

 

Santander UK plc offered us trading facilities in September 2012, and following written assurances received from them (twice) regarding the UK Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (EFG), we signed the contracts with them in good faith based upon these written assurances. It did not come to light until July 2013 that these written assurances were, in fact, false representations. We appealed to the Bank in July 2013 to resolve these issues, but their response a few weeks later was to arbitrarily withdraw all the facilities and request immediate full repayment in August 2013. It has subsequently come to light that other important information regarding the EFG Scheme and the facilities were not disclosed to us prior to signing the contracts, and therefore these issues have similarities with the Payment Protection insurance (PPI) banking scandal, where services were provided to customers that were not appropriate to their needs. We have forensic evidence that many other businesses could be adversely affected by the same issues, which are not widely known at present.

 

We immediately issued several Formal Complaints to the Bank in 2013, which they refused to uphold. The Financial Ombudsman advised in September 2014 that our claim was outside their resolution limit of £150,000, and therefore we needed to go to Court to achieve settlement. We have reported this matter several times to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and also to the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons, but this has not led to any satisfactory resolution or enforcement action being taken against the Bank, as far as we are aware. Even the UK Government departments who manage the EFG Scheme, including the British Business Bank, have advised they cannot intervene to resolve individual cases. We have pursued and exhausted negotiations directly with the Bank, through Solicitor’s and using a Mediator, but so far, these efforts have not resulted in any satisfactory settlement.

 

We genuinely expected all the above efforts to have resolved this dispute long before now, particularly as it was in the Bank’s own interests to avoid all the damaging facts of this dispute becoming public. Our claim is based upon written evidence as far as possible, which includes independent Expert Witness and Forensic Accountant’s Reports, confirming the substantial losses and damages caused by the actions of the Bank. It now appears that the only way to resolve this dispute is to expedite legal proceedings for the full recovery of all our losses and costs, and to ensure the survival of this business for the benefit of all.

 

We are also taking this stand on behalf of all other UK businesses, with a view to improving the resolution options available to all who have serious disputes which cannot be resolved by the Financial Ombudsman, the FCA or other UK Government departments.

 

Please help us in the following ways:

 

We urgently appeal to all our customers, website visitors and the general public to support us in every possible way. We welcome donations, loans or advance payments for models by cheque, PayPal or direct bank transfer to an alternative bank, as follows:

 

• For cheques: payable to Golden Age Models Limited, PO Box 888, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 9AE.
• For PayPal please click on the Donate button on the right
• For bank transfer please email us for the account details at: quentin@goldenagemodels.net

 

We encourage everyone to complain directly to Santander UK plc at the following address, and to copy this to us so that we know exactly what is taking place:

 

Mr Nathan Bostock, Chief Executive,

Santander UK plc, 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London, NW1 3AN.

 

We also encourage all other forms of peaceful protest and petition to Santander Bank.

 

We sincerely thank all those who are supporting us through this exceedingly difficult time, in particular our Solicitor, Steve Simpkins of Simpkins & Co., Highcliffe, Dorset, our Forensic Accountants Maurice Faull, Phil Southall and Simon Jaquiss, and our Member of Parliament, Richard Drax MP for South Dorset, along with many others.

 

Quentin Poore (Director),

Golden Age Models Limited

8 December 2017.

 

Email: quentin@goldenagemodels.net

Phone (UK): 01929 480210

Phone (Overseas): 0044 1929 480210.