Neil Wilby Media

The financial problems of a West Lancashire company repair firm, that drew attention to itself through the infamous on-line activities of its principal shareholder, Paul Arthur Ponting, have, finally, been laid bare.

The first Neil Wilby Media article that signalled deepening problems at Ormskirk-based Danoli Solutions Ltd., appeared on 26th June, 2023 (read here).

The owners took exception to that investigative reporting and made a number of threats of legal action and reports to the police against its author, Neil Wilby. Including the claim, absent of any specification, that the article libelled Danoli Solutions.

Paul Ponting is widely known as ‘The Ormskirk Vigilante‘ and his history, notably articulated by two circuit judges in successful injunction proceedings against him, tells of a relentless, aggressive, abusive, confrontational, vindictive, malicious, lying harasser (read more here).

His behaviour in trying to prevent public interest exposure of his failing firm has been entirely in keeping with that backstory.

The latest article, published on 4th August, 2023, recorded that the Registrar of Companies had upheld an objection the same journalist, listing a series of suspected or proven misdemeanours by the Directors of the computer company, against the striking of Danoli Solutions Limited from the records at Companies House. It can be read in full here.

It produced a further volley of on-line abuse from Ponting, including that the commissioning and publication of a contemporaneous photograph of his business premises amounted to ‘stalking’.

Further vindication has come in the form of a series of official documents filed at Companies House (read them here) which paint a very bleak picture of what Paul Ponting has fought so hard to conceal.

The key points to draw from those official records are:

– The Company Directors and only two shareholders, Paul Arthur Ponting, acting as Chair, and Anna Marie Ponting, held a meeting on 26th July, 2023 and passed a Special Resolution to wind up their company voluntarily and a further Resolution to appoint a Liquidator. The explanation stated was that ‘the Company by reason of its liabilities cannot continue to trade’. Quite apart from the realisation coming around nine months too late, there may be an issue as to its validity as the Resolutions are not signed off using the Chair’s full legal name. The Company has also, plainly, continued to attempt to trade after that date.

– The appointed Liquidator is Jamie Playford, a registered insolvency practitioner, of Leading Business Services Ltd in Norwich.

– In 2014, his regulatory body, the Insolvency Practitioner’s Association (IPA) made findings against him over ethical and professional breaches and fined him £15,000 and £2,000. Amongst the findings, the IPA ruled that Mr Playford had abused industry processes by putting companies into administration when liquidation would have been more appropriate. There have been no known issues since and he is listed as a Director of 19 companies, of which 11 are still active. ‘Leading’, as they prefer to be known, has a net worth of over £1 million.

– The Danoli registered office address changed from 56, New Court Way, Ormskirk Business Park, Ormskirk L39 2YT to Lawrence House, 5 St Andrews Hill, Norwich NR2 1AD on 7th August 2023. Notwithstanding, the company name continued to be displayed on the business premises after that date and the Danoli website, to this day, is very clear that their operations are still ‘managed from our office in Ormskirk’, not Norwich.

– A Statement of Affairs now filed at Companies House, bearing the date 14th July, 2023 and, again, raising validity issues as it is not signed off using the relevant Director’s full name. It is within this document, which can be scrutinised in full here, that the most damning revelations appear:

– Total owed to creditors is £101, 623, and they include:

– Three company employees and pension fund contributions: £16,059

– Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs: £18,173

– Banking and Finance companies: £56,270

– Trade creditors are listed at only £1,035, the exact amount owed to their water supplier, suggesting that Danoli continued to pay all other suppliers ahead of preferential creditors. A pattern which can be associated with trading whilst insolvent.

– Nothing appears to be owed in respect of rent, rates, heat or light at their business premises, from which they are still operating. Presumably, having replaced Water Plus as a utility supplier and left them nursing a debt. Another indicator of insolvency misdemeanour.

– There is no mention of the destination, or value, of the £2,500 of stock that was reported on the previous annual accounts filed at Companies House. Presumably, the ‘thousands of computer spare parts’ the Directors have previously claimed they held at their Ormskirk premises.

– There is also no mention of the furlough payments and at least one loan that locals say Danoli Solutions Ltd received during the COVID-19 pandemic. Without which, the business would have failed much sooner.

– After almost 20 years in business, the Pontings say the realisable assets against the £100,000+ owed to creditors is just £131: Computer equipment worth £50 and book debts of £81. That runs completely counter to the many grand assertions made on their Danoli website, which is still very much functional as this article is published (view here), and gives the appearance of a well executed ‘scam’. Both Directors have continued to use email addresses linked to the danoli.com domain well after the documents signalling its unarguable demise were signed, below a Contempt of Court warning.

– The shareholders’ funds, which totalled just £1 (70p of shares owned by Paul Ponting, 30p worth of shares owned by Anna Ponting) are now, of course, lost as a result of the liquidation. A small price to pay when attempting to walk away from six figure debts.

In December, 2022, a new company, Solar IT, was formed, operating at the same business premises in New Court Way, Ormskirk and offering much the same services.  A Neil Wilby Media article published on 1st August, 2023 shone light on Solar’s connections with Paul Ponting and Danoli (read in full here).

This is a public interest investigation with still some way to run, despite extensive efforts by the Pontings to prevent it, and The Insolvency Service, Barclays Bank, HMRC and Water Plus will all be approached over the next few days with the legitimate concerns, that are now very much in play, shared with them.

Although not a criminal offence, wrongful trading is a civil offence that is taken seriously by the courts. Where evidence is found of wrongful or fraudulent trading, the Directors can be found personally liable for some or all of the company debts.

A series of questions will also be put to Mr Playford at Leading Business Services Ltd., who is now the de facto company spokesperson for Danoli Solutions Ltd.

UPDATE: The response of Danoli’s principal shareholder, Paul Ponting, to this article, amongst another round of personalised, on-line abuse against its author, is to threaten to seek crowd-funding, purportedly to sue for alleged defamation and harassment. In that light, readers are reminded of another Neil Wilby Media article, published on 28th July, 2023 that uncovered, forensically, a previous Ponting crowd-funder as a wicked scam. That exposé can be read in full here.

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

Page last updated: Thursday 17th August, 2023 at 16h15

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