Investigative Journalism
During my career thus far I have been given the opportunity to do some very interesting assignments that succeeded in exclusive articles and the exposure of issues in the public interest.
Please have a read and let me know what you think.
Was I justified in what I did to get the story?
Did the public at large benefit from these stories?
Investigative journalism is a rare and wonderfull tool, it can be done by anyone at any time, but it has to be done responsibly and written in a professional manner if its impact is to be of any worth.
Articles:
Scottish Hydro Electric Miss-Selling probe…
Labours Glasgow East by Election…
B&P Graphic Supplies focus of allegations
Peter Barton, of Reprocad Ltd, says he his ‘disappointed’ with B and P Graphic Supplies Ltd, as they have yet to honour payments awarded to him by a county court judgement
The directors of B and P Graphic Supplies Ltd (BPGS), Lorraine Whitburn of Salisbury and Andrew Wilson of Basingstoke, have announced the company’s ‘technical insolvency’ following a county court case with business consultancy Reprocad Ltd, which found for the latter to the value of £9908.50.
BPGS still have several alleged outstanding creditors, who claim they are owed the following sums: Korean-based DYSS ($72,000 (£45,600)), Marabu Ink (£9,600), Integration Technology (£1,957.32), G and A Technical Solutions (£3,743), a UK Inkjet supplier (£23,588.45), Sepiax Ink Technology GmbH (€16,000 (£13,500)) and US-based Ultraflex (£500). BPGS stated its ‘technical insolvency’ in a letter to Ultraflex, writing that they have ‘insufficient funds or assets to formally go into liquidation’
G and A Technical Solutions have also been awarded a county court judgement on November 18th to the value of their owed debt, with Sepiax commencing a European court action.
In response to the allegations, Wilson commented that he would consider them ‘inaccurate and some even fictitious’. He continued: “In short, there is no mention of the debts owed to B and P Graphics by the individuals and companies who have made the allegations. No mention has been made about what debts may be paid when the company’s affairs have been completed. Also, there is no mention of the damage caused to printers by the Sepiax Inks, a product promoted and introduced to B and P by Peter Barton.”
Wilson’s last statement refers to an ongoing dispute between B and P Graphics and Sepiax, the former claiming incorrect ink supplies damaged customer’s printers and Sepiax stating that the inks were incorrectly sold to clients with incompatible machines.
Peter Barton, director of Reprocad, explains why he took BPGS to court:
“Having worked as a retained consultant for BPGS for over a year, developing their supplier chain and extending their business footprint, along with handling PR issues, I was hugely disappointed to see that the payment of my invoices was slipping out to months rather than days.”
Barton continues: “My entreaties for payment brought reassurances about improvements in financial arrangements and cash flow in general, which turned out to be exaggerations. After months of defending the honour of BPGS in the marketplace I found that all the promises that my invoices had been signed off and were ready to pay were untrue. I thus found it necessary to take legal action, and gained a county court judgment on November 1st 2010 with payment ordered forthwith.”
BPGS is also facing allegations in regards to alleged un-honoured debts from a UK inks supplier for undelivered goods (approx £4,500), Graphics Supplies Ireland for an un-honoured deposit on a machine (£2,500), Israeli-based company Rowe Israel for undelivered goods ($13,000 (£8,200)) and SG4 Ltd for an un-honoured guarantee contract (approx £9,000).
BPGS is currently classed with a risk indicator of four out five, a failure score of 1 out of 100 (with 1 being the highest risk of failure) and a 93.78 percent rate of late payment according to business consultancy Dun and Bradstreet.
Barton says prior to his own legal action that he received a letter from Ian Robertson, who formerly worked with BPGS. The letter threatened legal action and asked for the settlement of £25,000 pounds if he did not retract verbal statements about the company’s credit worthiness. Robertson describes his role at the company as ‘helping [BPGS] re-finance and to put new contracts into place’.
Likewise Tim Lockhart, managing director of SG4, alleges receiving a letter from Robertson threatening legal action, as well as incorrect invoices for goods never received from BPGS. A well respected UK Ink supplier also told Signlink that they had been sent incorrect invoices.
The invoices were sent through factoring agents, which BPGS passed the ownership of any invoices to. Gary Dare, managing director of G and A Technical Solutions, alleges that following a contra deal with BPGS, of which the factoring agent were not informed, he was billed for the receipt of goods already paid for through the contra.
Barton and several of the listed companies are currently consulting on mounting a joint legal case as BPGS has not yet announced plans to honour its alleged creditors. Although as Wilson states, ‘debts may be paid when the company’s affairs have been completed’.
Prior to the declaration of ‘technical insolvency’ by BPGS, Wilson, with co-director Robertson, set up a separate sign and display company, South West Graphics – trading as Time 2 Display UK. The company’s initial share signatories were Whitburn and Francesco Graziano, but since its creation Robertson states he has taken full ownership, with Graziano leaving the company and Whitburn and Wilson becoming its employees.
