Neil Wilby Media

Usually, one of the first signs that a limited company is experiencing problems is the late filing of its annual accounts at Companies House, the regulatory body for such businesses in the United Kingdom, operating under the remit of the Department for Business and Trade.

There are, of course, various other reasons why a company might file late, and financial difficulty is just one possibility. Other common reasons include administrative errors, changes in company personnel, internal delays, or simply oversight. Companies may also request an extension for filing their accounts in exceptional circumstances or for other valid reasons.

While late filing can sometimes indicate financial issues, it’s important to balance the scales with other factors as well. To assess a company’s overall financial health accurately, it’s advisable to review additional information such as the business and personal profile of the directors, financial statements, reports, industry trends, and other relevant details such as press reports and company output on social media.

A computer repair business in Ormskirk, Lancashire has come under scrutiny due to the highly questionable, indeed infamous,  on-line activities of its controlling Director, Paul Ponting. Of the £1 worth of shares issued in the company, he owns the controlling interest with 70 pence worth.

Danoli Solutions Ltd was established in 2005, although Ponting claims on social media that his computer business began in 1995, presumably as a sole trader, rather than a limited company. It matters little, either way.

This is how the company describes itself on the home page of their website:

“Danoli Solutions Ltd Provide business support to a range of small and medium businesses in Ormskirk & the surrounding area’s.

“Our team of engineers are able to provide a professional real world solution for you and all your IT Needs”. Elsewhere on the same website, Danoli claims to employ six engineers. Enquiries made locally do not support that assertion, a matter that has been put to them for clarification.

There is no mention anywhere on the Danoli Solution Ltd website of its founder and principal shareholder, Paul Ponting. Or on the company’s Facebook or Twitter pages. A possible indicator of how toxic the Ponting name might be locally where he has previously been dubbed ‘The Ormskirk Vigilante’ (read more here)?

Industry trends show that, as technology becomes more complex an increased demand for specialised services, there is a growing market for niche computer repair services. This includes repairs for specific brands (Apple being one of the most obvious), operating systems, or types of devices (for example, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles).

Danoli, according to the company’s most recent posts on Facebook and Twitter, diversified into repairs of curling wands and tongs, branded GHD. The last updates on those social media platforms was March 2021 and July 2015, respectively. Another possible indicator that either all is not well in the company, operationally or financially, or the main shareholder has lost interest, or the Danoli brand has become toxic due to the Ponting association?

Over the years, they have an unblemished filing record at Companies House. That is, until the end of May, 2023 when the business was due to lodge its accounts for the period ending 31st August, 2022. Which alerted attention to the fact that all might not be well at Danoli HQ.

A quick Google search revealed that Paul Ponting himself had, as recently as September, 2022, and just after the end of the accounting period for which Companies House await filing of annual accounts, told Teesside Live, a major online news outlet, that his business was “on the point of collapse”.

Which may also be connected to the fact that he appears to spend lengthy spells on social media almost every day, pursuing what give the appearance of relentless, obsessive vendettas, ‘like a dog with a bone’ as his Twitter biography claims (@UKCorruptPolice).

Or, making complaints to a wide range of public bodies, including the police and statutory regulators, over matters with which he feels aggrieved. Including a baseless claim that the author of this article, Neil Wilby, had libelled Danoli Solutions Ltd in a publication first posted in March, 2023 and which can be viewed here. Ponting has not commenced proceedings following that Twitter outburst which, of itself, is defamatory but has, unsurprisingly, drawn further journalistic (and legal) attention to himself and his company as a result.

That particular range of activity rules out a number, if not all, of those possible reasons for the Companies House delay mentioned earlier. Again pointing towards financial ill-health as the main cause and, perhaps, an unwillingness to share publicly any potential problems that the annual accounts may reveal. Paul Ponting cannot claim an oversight as the matter was drawn to his attention in a formal communication sent to him on 17th June, 2023 and acknowledged by him two days later.

Not least, with another defamatory Twitter post that claimed making pre-litigation enquiries about the financial status of a prospective defendant was a cause for a ‘stalking’ complaint to be made to the police. It has not, however, persuaded him to rectify the position by filing those missing accounts with the regulator, up to the date of the publication of this article (see here).

So, where does the public interest lie in placing the media spotlight on Danoli Solutions Ltd., and its principal shareholder, the reader might very fairly ask?

The answer is really very straightforward: Danoli appears to be the only, or main, source of income for Paul Ponting and these issues are highly pertinent to that situation:

– He has already faced legal costs of between £35,000 and £40,000 in a civil action brought against him by Lancashire Constabulary (Lancs) for which, he says, he had to borrow money to pay his own lawyer and the £30,000 legal costs the judge ordered Ponting to pay Lancs. A judgment handed down in Liverpool County Court by HHJ David Knifton QC on 13th March, 2020 (just days before the virus epidemic) ended with an until further Order (in lay terms, permanent) injunction over on-line activity that was repeatedly derogated by the senior judge (read a detailed report of the ex-tempore judgment here).

– He is presently restrained by interim injunction by way of an Order handed down by HHJ Nigel Bird in Manchester County Court on 6th April, 2023 following an application by two females from the Salford area of Greater Manchester, alleging defamation and harassment. From publicly available documents, there are ominous signs that he may face another crippling legal bill after the final hearing of those proceedings. Ponting was arrested on suspicion of assault after an incident at the first hearing of that application in Manchester on 9th March, 2023. He is also facing criminal allegations of stalking and harassment. Bailed upon release from custody by the police, conditionally, for 3 months (recently extended by a further three months), Paul Ponting denies any wrongdoing.

– There is a third set of legal proceedings in train alleging defamation, malicious falsehood and harassment and, over which, he has been served a Pre-Action Protocol Letter before Claim. Those proceedings are paused momentarily, despite, on all the available evidence, being almost certain to succeed, pending further enquiries as to the likelihood of Paul Ponting being able to meet any costs and damages awarded against him. As things stand, and bearing in mind the other drains on his finances, that does not appear to be a sufficiently reliable prospect.

– He continues to regularly make threats of legal action against those whom he perceives may have wronged him. The latest is an optimistic ‘see you in court’ taunt to Lancs over an unsigned bail conditions form (read more here). An earlier threat against another force, Greater Manchester Police, and the author of this article, Neil Wilby, over an alleged data breach, also appears to have amounted to nothing (read full article here).

– Danoli Solutions Ltd appears to be the base from which a number of malicious websites are registered and operated. They are a medium from which he blogs adversely, frequently in very unpleasant and sometimes harassing and/or defamatory terms (read more here).

Companies House has provided details of the scale of fines for late filing. It is understood that Danoli Solutions Ltd will have already received a fine notice in the sum of £150, which will rise, at the end of June, 2023, to £375. The maximum fine is £1,500.

Paul Ponting was offered right of reply via the Neil Wilby Media contact page at this weblink. It came in the form of another torrent of abuse whilst not addressing one single core issue raised in this article. A follow-up piece headlined ‘Poking the hornet’s nest’ can be read at this weblink.

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any updates.

Page last updated: Wednesday 5th July, 2023 at 07h25

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