Businessman who went on the run sentenced to four years in prison
A Leicester businessman who was last year found guilty of selling fraudulent franchise licences to victims across the UK and who went on the run before the trial, has been sentenced to four years in prison and banned from being a company director for 15 years.
Nazir Abdul Rashid Daud, formerly of Landseer Road, Leicester, was previously found guilty on three counts under the Fraud Act 2006 in relation to false representations made between 2015 and 2018 and a further charge of fraudulent trading under the Companies Act 2006, and was convicted in his absence at Leicester Crown Court on 2 December 2022.
He had gone on the run before the trial, and was arrested on 25 October 2023 and remanded to prison to await sentencing.
He appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday 31 January, where Judge Ebrahim Mooncey imposed the four-year prison sentence as well as ordering Mr Daud to pay prosecution costs of £30,046.
His company, Payrolls Direct Ltd, was fined £973,000.
The prosecution was brought following an investigation by Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards Service, which received statements from 18 victims.
The court heard that Mr Daud was the sole director of Payrolls Direct Limited, which he set up in 2014. Mr Daud had advertised franchise licences for a new cloud-based payrolls system, which he was selling for between £5,995 and £9,995.
Franchisees would sign up clients, process payroll for each employee of the company they signed up, and Payrolls Direct would take 20 per cent of the fee, with the franchisee keeping the rest.
Mr Daud claimed that buying a franchise licence would allow people to earn between £250 and £2,000 per month, depending on how much time they put into the business and how many clients they signed up. Advertising for Payrolls Direct also promised franchisees initial training, ongoing unlimited support, marketing materials and networking opportunities with successful franchisees.
But the court heard that statements from 18 franchisees who spoke to Trading Standards during the investigation revealed that only one was able to sign up any clients, and as the promised unlimited help, support and training was never provided, the franchisees were unable to use the payrolls system, leading to the contract with the clients being terminated.
In all, the cash value of the fraud was put at more than £320,000, with witnesses describing further ‘out of pocket’ losses, including thousands of pounds spent on advertising and months of work spent fruitlessly working to gain clients.
Harpreet Giani, representing Mr Daud, said that Payrolls Direct was originally conceived as a legitimate company, but it spiralled out of control.
He said: “Mr Daud wants to come clean now. He understands he’s probably going to receive a long prison sentence.”
Passing sentence, the judge said: “A lot of people had dreams of making it work. They invested a lot of time and made decisions that affected their families. It wasn’t just a monetary value.”
Mr Daud’s co-defendant Anthony Raybould was previously sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, after he pleaded guilty to the offences when he appeared at Leicester Crown Court in December 2022.
Gary Connors, head of Leicestershire Trading Standards, said: “This form of fraud provides a quick financial return for the perpetrators, leaving the victims in financial and emotional turmoil.
“The franchise sector is heavily reliant on trust rather than regulatory controls and by nature potential new entrepreneurs must be persuaded to make a significant ‘down payment’ for the promise of financial success.
“These are often complex and resource intensive investigations, but the legitimate UK franchise industry is a major contributor to the UK economy and must not be undermined by this form of fraud operating within the sector.”
The Secretary of State for Transport signs off Compulsory Purchase Order and Side Road Orders for A614
A multimillion-pound scheme to improve five junctions along the A614/A6097 corridor edges one step closer following confirmation of the Compulsory Purchase (CPO) and Side Road (SRO) Orders for the scheme from the Secretary of State for Transport.
Nottinghamshire County Council is now in a position to formally secure land at Ollerton Roundabout, Lowdham Roundabout and Kirk Hill, East Bridgford as well as temporary rights of access to facilitate construction of the new areas of highway along the major road network.
Whilst plans have been designed to minimise the amount of land needed and use land that is already owned by the council, 57 plots of land will be required, of which 19 are owned by private individuals.
Nottinghamshire County Council Leader, Councillor Ben Bradley MP, said: “This is fantastic news for Nottinghamshire. We’re already negotiating with landowners to try and acquire the necessary land and rights by agreement where possible and I’m pleased to say that negotiations have so far been very positive. I’m thankful to those landowners for working with us.
“Now the legal processes have been formally signed off, we can move to purchase the land needed in preparation for work to start, which I’m delighted to say should be early Autumn, subject to Government approval.”
The scheme, funded by the Department for Transport (DFT) and Nottinghamshire County Council, is a key element of the council’s strategy to improve local and regional connectivity and support growth and investment in the area.
Councillor Keith Girling, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Improving access to training and jobs and helping businesses to move goods more efficiently is central to making the county’s economy stronger.
“Residents will be able to view the latest plans, find out more and meet the contractors at events in the summer.”
Sherwood MP, Mark Spencer said: “I’m delighted that we are making progress with the A614 improvements. The residents of Bilsthorpe, Ollerton and Edwinstowe have waited long enough. I’m grateful to the County Council for all their help.”
The works are expected to last 24 months and it is anticipated that improvements to Ollerton Roundabout will be complete and open to traffic by November 2026. Improvements to Mickledale Lane junction will be progressed separately and funded by the council at a cost of approximately £5m.
New Lubbesthorpe hits major milestones
Blaby District’s community at New Lubbesthorpe is celebrating a whole series of major milestones.
Construction is starting on the first local centre with work already underway on the 66-bedroom care home which will feature in the mixed-use scheme.
Progress on the centre’s two-storey building, which will house a Sainsbury’s Local store, three additional retail units, a café and bistro and GP surgery, is expected to begin within weeks.
Both are scheduled to be finished by next spring, completing the Tay Road feature square which includes New Lubbesthorpe Primary School.
Developers have also reported a major residency achievement – as at the end of December some 1,022 homes were occupied. And one of the partners, Davidsons Homes, has begun work on the next 163 properties as part of Phase 2 of the scheme.
Another developer, David Wilson Homes, recently received planning permission to install solar panels on its houses – the first advance of its kind at New Lubbesthorpe.
Other sustainable features making a difference to the community are dedicated bus services – NovusDirect, running into Leicester city and NovusFosse which journeys to Fosse Park.
The popularity of NovusDirect has seen the number of buses on the route increase from two to three, running up to every 20 minutes on weekdays. Residents are also able to rent a car through the Enterprise Car Club. These initiatives are coordinated by GO Travel Solutions and funded by landowners, the Drummond Estate.
The very latest development approved is the restoration and conversion of the historic but derelict Abbey Farm. Old buildings on the site, which would otherwise have fallen into further decay, will be transformed into homes and offices.
Councillor Ben Taylor, Blaby District Council Portfolio Holder for Planning Delivery and Enforcement and Corporate Transformation, said: “It’s exciting to see the progress being made at New Lubbesthorpe with all these milestones being achieved. I’m sure residents are delighted work is commencing on the new local centre. It will be a most welcome addition.
“With new homes under construction it’s fantastic to see the neighbourhood growing and evolving. We now have more than 1,000 homes occupied and people report a real sense of community. Clubs and groups are thriving and residents enjoy social activities and events as well as sustainable travel options.”
New Lubbesthorpe will eventually feature more than 4,000 new homes and is being developed in phases over two decades. Ground was broken in 2015 and the first families took residence in 2017.
Edwalton development land sold for executive homes
FHP, working with sister company FHP Living Limited, have completed the sale of a development site on Melton Road in Edwalton, for housing on behalf of a private client.
David Hargreaves of FHP said: “The site was 1.5 acres and had the significant benefit of planning consent being in place for 9 detached executive homes, each of 4,500-5,500 sq ft each.”
Jules Hunt of FHP Living, who has sold a number of similar houses in the area over the past couple of years, said: “This is one of the best small development sites to hit the market for a long time and unsurprisingly attracted a lot of developer interest.”
Hargreaves said: “Despite the undoubted strength of the site in terms of its location and planning permission being in place, our clients had a pretty rough ride with this sale, as indeed did many vendors selling development sites this past 18 months, with 2 sales collapsing.
“This was due firstly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent levels of inflation which fed into much higher build costs.
“Thereafter we had the Liz Truss budget and the resulting record increases in base rates from 1.00% to 5.25% which undermined confidence and made developers and their funders pretty nervous about any form of property development.
“However, despite these ‘head winds’ the many hours we put in to selling this site, the hundreds of phone calls and our dedication to the job we were eventually rewarded with a sale to a local family development company who, once terms had been agreed, exchanged contracts and completed the acquisition quickly.”
Hargreaves concluded by saying: “The buyers and their solicitors were great, they were quick and they did exactly what they said they would do, which was a nice change after the previous sales had collapsed – I guess we got our due reward in the end as did our clients.”
The price achieved equated to circa £285,000/plot or £1,700,000/acre.
£1.5m funding boost for university partnership with ITP Aero
The University of Nottingham, Manufacturing Technology Centre and ITP Aero are celebrating after being awarded £1.5m in Government funding to support a three-year Laser Welding research and development project.
The three-year project, known as LADDER (Laser Automation and Design Development for future Engine Requirements), will see a total investment of £2.59m, both from ITP Aero itself and the Government’s Innovation Funding Service. This significant milestone reflects a shared commitment to investing in technology across the East Midlands.
Also a research partner on the project is the Manufacturing and Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry. Together with the university and ITP, they will bring world-class expertise to the project, with the aim of developing and implementing an innovative laser beam welding (LBW) solution, as a robust joining technology for complex sheet-metal aeroengine fabrications.
The use of laser beam welding produces narrow welds with a small heat-affected zone, at high production rates. The highly repeatable process offering low-distortion will be used in the short term to reduce the costs associated with non-conformance. In the longer term, it is recognised that stringent new emissions targets will necessitate further increases in engine temperatures, meaning higher performance and more complex products will be needed. Design specifically for LBW will enable increased functional capability to be achieved on a range of commodities, while at the same time increasing integrity and cost competitiveness.
Rob Mitchell, Head of Engineering for ITP Aero UK, said: “This is a real milestone for us in ITP Aero UK. We are a young company in the UK, but a site with a huge amount of aerospace heritage.
“This is our first stand-alone project where we have sought and secured Government funding and underlines our commitment to invest in the UK in line with our research priorities. I am delighted we are able to work closely with our partners in the MTC and University of Nottingham to develop this industry leading capability in the UK.”
Professor Chris Bennett, Director of the Institute for Aerospace Technology at UoN, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to work with a company with a growing presence in the aerospace sector in the UK and globally.
“This project builds on existing strengths and a history at Nottingham in the field of welding modelling, while being at the cutting edge of Aerospace manufacture and allowing us to consider some of the challenges associated with the production of real components.”
Matthew Kite, Director of Power and Energy, Industrial Sector at the MTC, said: “After a long association with ITP Aero’s Hucknall site, it is a real pleasure to accompany them on the next stage of their new journey, whilst also having the opportunity to work closely with the University of Nottingham, one of our founding partners.
“With our extensive experience in laser-based collaborative projects in the Aerospace sector, combined with ITP Aero’s commitment to the adoption of new technologies in this area, we have a real opportunity to boost the UK’s expertise.” Logicor expands UK footprint by forward funding 500,000 sq ft Derby distribution warehouse
Logicor, an owner, manager and developer of European logistics real estate, has expanded its footprint in the UK by agreeing to forward fund a 500,000 sq ft distribution warehouse on a prime logistics site in Derby.
Planning permission has already been secured for the warehouse on Infinity Park Derby.
Throughout the construction phase, and when the building is complete, there is the potential to create over 1,300 jobs.
The development will be sustainably built and will target EPC A and BREEAM Excellent certification. In addition to solar panels, LED lighting and air source heat pumps, there are plans for extensive landscaping with 112 trees, wetland habitats, bird boxes and bug hotels to improve the levels of local biodiversity at the site.
Employees on the site will have access to nature trails, cycleways and footpaths to promote sustainable travel.
Construction is due to start early 2024.
Charlie Howard, Managing Director, UK at Logicor, said: “Infinity Park Derby fits perfectly with our strategy of further growing our footprint in areas where we know demand for quality real estate continues to outstrip supply.
Plans submitted for new pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Trent
Plans have been submitted for a new pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Trent.
The Waterside Bridge project is being delivered using grant funding secured in 2020 from Central Government through the Transforming Cities programme.
While the Section 114 Report means that money Nottingham City Council can spend is currently strictly controlled, because external grant funding has previously been specifically allocated for this project, it will continue go ahead.
The new bridge, the first over the Trent since Clifton Bridge was built 60 years ago, will create new links between the expanding Waterside regeneration area, Colwick Park on the north bank, and the Lady Bay/West Bridgford area to the south.
By enhancing connections between communities, green spaces and riverside paths, the proposed scheme will make it easier for people living and working in the Nottingham area to travel in a more sustainable way.
In addition, new and enhanced connecting paths and crossing points will be developed, which will connect the bridge to the wider walking and cycling network, providing access to housing, employment and leisure opportunities across the city and beyond.
The new bridge will also provide strong links between exciting new developments in the Island Quarter, as well as significant housing growth taking place in West Bridgford, and Nottingham city centre.
It will also provide easier access to green and open space south of the river, as well as the sports grounds, for people living in communities such as Sneinton and the city centre.
The project is being led by Nottingham City Council, working in partnership with Rushcliffe Borough Council and in consultation with Nottinghamshire County Council.
Since funding was allocated in 2020, the City Council has explored location options for the new bridge, including looking at environmental and flooding factors and engaging with local people.
Feedback from residents led to the width of the bridge being increased and additional connecting routes being considered.
Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Wellbeing, ICT and Member Development Cllr Jonathan Wheeler said: “The bridge could create further positive connectivity for residents on both sides of the river and we welcome government funding that has enabled the project to come to fruition.
“We have been pleased to work with our city colleagues on designs for this new community bridge so far and look forward to seeing the next stage of the project progress subject to an independent planning process.”
196 affordable new homes given green light for Kirkby-in-Ashfield
Gleeson Homes has received planning permission for the development of 196 new homes on Farm View Road in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
The site, named Hollinwell Heath, spans 16.2 acres and will include a range of Gleeson’s 2, 3, and 4-bedroom homes in a mix of rural and urban elevations.
As part of the development, and its ongoing commitment to community engagement, Gleeson will gift an existing barn to Ashfield District Council, which will be converted into a new Community Hall for local residents. This represents part of a donation of around £750,000 that Gleeson will provide to improve local facilities such as libraries, travel, and highways.
Gleeson expects to commence building in late Spring/early Summer this year, with plans to start welcoming viewings in early 2025.
Allen Marshall, Regional Managing Director at Gleeson Homes, said: “We are delighted to have secured this development, a key project for the region, and we can’t wait to get started. This development is in a great location and will showcase the best of our product offering to potential customers.
“We are passionate about supplying much-needed high-quality affordable homes, and will also continue to invest in the areas in which we build to make a positive impact for our local communities.”
Second floor let at i2 Centre, Mansfield
Anthony Barrowcliffe of FHP has let the entire second floor of the i2 Centre, Oakham Business Park, Mansfield, which comprised five office suites and totalled 10,243ft².
This was not a straightforward transaction with tenants vacating, dilapidations, landlord works and a phased move in by the new tenant.
The property comprises refurbished Grade A office suites which are located in close proximity to Mansfield town centre and the A38.
Anthony Barrowcliffe of FHP said: “I am particularly pleased with this letting as we have managed to complete the occupation of a full floor across five suites at the i2 Centre to a large local occupier. This was a fantastic deal to complete and entailed lots of moving parts, but I am delighted we could put all the jigsaw pieces together in the end.
“This is a deal I am very proud of, achieving good terms which both parties were happy with. I look forward to more success at the i2 Centre which I think is an absolutely beautiful building with so much to offer for the Mansfield area with great transport links, great connectivity to the Motorway alongside great parking ratios and a high quality internal specification. This is a high quality product with a fantastic line up of tenants, a sense of community and a feel of professionalism.
“I have the two final suites available currently at the i2 Centre available on flexible terms and suitable for a variety of uses. The ground floor suite extends to 170m² (1,832ft²) and the first floor suite extends to 200m² (2,159ft²).”
Martin Betts, of M7 Real Estate, the landlords, said: “We are delighted, in conjunction with FHP, to have achieved this significant letting at the i2 Centre. It demonstrates that there is clearly ongoing demand for well-located and well specified offices.”
Global Brands makes changes to senior leadership team structure
Independent, Chesterfield-based ready-to-drink experts, Global Brands, has revealed continued growth plans, following changes to its senior leadership team structure.
Following Mark James’ decision to step down, Julian Atkins has been appointed as Global Brands’ Managing Director. Shaun Bacon remains Group Finance & Managing Director.
Previously holding the role of Commercial Director, Atkins has been with Global Brands for almost 15 years. During this time, he has played a major role in the resurrection and relaunch of premium mixer brand, Franklin & Sons, subsequently turning it into a £14m turnover brand. It has now launched into more premium channels, leading to a foothold in HORECA and wide-ranging distribution across 61 countries.
Most recently, Julian has championed the brand new, innovative ‘be.’ cocktail range, featuring several classic cocktail flavours, suitably served in ready-to-drink 200ml cans.
Other senior appointments include Matt Bulcroft stepping up from On Trade Sales Director to join the main board as Marketing Director, Mike Smith rejoining the business as UK Sales Director and Rebecca Jarvis-Hook taking on a newly crafted role as Head of People & HR.
The changes to the senior leadership team structure reflect Global Brands’ ambitious five-year growth plan, with the recent appointments aiming to further establish the business as the independent drinks experts in the UK, with plans to increase turnover to more than £135m and break into 100 international markets.
Founder and Chairman Steve Perez said: “I would like to thank Mark James for his outstanding contribution to Global Brands, who has been integral to the company’s development and success, since joining in 1993.
“As Mark transitions to pursue new opportunities, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Julian Atkins as the new Managing Director. Julian, a respected, well known, and popular figure in the industry, brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success to this role. Under his leadership, I am confident that the company will continue to thrive exponentially, to achieve new heights.”
The restructure comes on the back of substantial growth results for Global Brands, with the company increasing its net revenue since 2019, from £55m to £75m, and becoming the largest supplier of canned cocktails to the off-trade category in the UK (Nielsen RTD data 2023).
Julian added: “We have an ambitious 5 year growth strategy, which will see Global Brands expand on its export business and move into new categories within the drinks sector.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with Matt, Mike and our broader first class team, to develop our portfolio, through an exciting combination of acquisition, NPD and distribution agreements.”
Global Brands’ portfolio of brands now includes VK, Frankin & Sons, be., Hooch, All Shook Up, Shake Baby Shake, Beviamo, Kick Energy, Lustre and Amigos Tequila Beer.
