Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s star investigator, battling readers’ corners, revealing the truth behind closed doors and winning victories for those left penniless. Find out how to contact him below.
BC writes: I have received a demand letter from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd, acting on behalf of Right Choice Insurance Brokers Ltd.
Can you help me please?
Since the last time you helped me with this very matter, nothing has changed except that this letter arrived.
I hope they stop harassing me.
Tony Hetherington replies: It’s been almost exactly a year since your daughter contacted me on your behalf about almost exactly the same problem. Then Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd (DCBL), based in Runcorn, Cheshire, had been hired by a car park company which claimed it was owed £304. In fact, DCBL’s legal arm had obtained a court ruling upholding the claim.
Wrong number: bailiffs remained silent about the confusion
However, court action and debt collection lawsuits were not for you. They were addressed to Damian Stroud, but they were all sent to his address. You didn’t know anyone by that name and had never lived in his house, which had been your home for 40 years. You told DCBL that the car registration on your demand letters was not yours, but they continued to arrive in your mailbox.
You reported the company to the police, but you got nowhere. You also contacted the DVLA but this was no help either.
When your daughter contacted me, she was concerned that you, aged 82, were so frightened by the debt collectors arriving at your door that you were considering paying the £304 they were demanding.
Worse still, the same company was also sending claims for £349 which it claimed was owed to car insurance brokers.
I raised all this with the legal arm of DCBL but they did not offer any explanation or comment.
I then contacted DCBL’s client, the parking company. I gave them his full name, address, date of birth and confirmation of the number of years that appeared on the local electoral register.
And I added that in all the local records, there was nothing to prove that anyone named Stroud ever lived at their address.
The result was that the parking company told DCBL to cancel all its claims against its management.
And this brings us to what just happened. DCBL has again written to Damian Stroud at his address, this time demanding £274 which it says is owed to Right Choice Insurance Brokers (RCIB) of Romford in Essex.
I asked DCBL repeatedly to explain why they were causing him such obvious distress following his same misconduct a year ago, but they offered absolutely no excuse or explanation. Frankly, I don’t think they care as long as they get paid.
RCIB was a little better. After giving them the necessary details, they told me: ‘This has been reviewed internally and it has been agreed that DCBL has closed its file. This should prevent Mr C from receiving any further correspondence.’
On the negative side, RCIB claimed that it had “acted in good faith” and that Damian Stroud’s address (his address) had been confirmed by documents such as his driving licence, his passport or his household bills.
So I tracked down Damian Stroud. He is several decades younger than you and lives in an apartment not far from your house. Your apartment number is the same as your house number and your ZIP code is two digits away from yours.
So, has this all been an innocent but disturbing mix-up? Or do you actually have documentation that shows your name but your address? RCIB declined to say.
What I can say is that a check of court records shows a debt judgment from last year for £304 in his name, but at his address. This is the £304 demanded by the parking company that brought all this to light.
Twice I invited Damian Stroud to explain, but he offered no explanation or comment.
I hope this does not lead to you once again being harassed by DCBL debt collectors, who clearly did not keep track of last year’s erroneous demands and threats.
Marks Art owner flees as scam fails
Wanted man: Mark Steven Smith
Fraudulent art investment company Marks Art Limited has been compulsorily terminated and dissolved by Companies House.
Its website is no longer active and its phone goes unanswered, but police still want to get their hands on its owner, Mark Steven Smith.
The Mail on Sunday has been investigating Marks Art and tracking down its criminal owner for the last year and a half. We first raised the alarm in September 2023 when I visited what was said to be the company’s gallery in London, but found no photos or gallery. Smith later claimed that the address was secret, ironically blaming London’s high crime rate.
Marks Art also misled buyers using counterfeit articles from the BBC and The Telegraph. The paintings he sold were greatly overpriced and were marketed with unhelpful promises of profit at auctions that, in the end, did not take place.
This evidence helped convince several banks and card companies to reimburse victims’ losses.
The final nail in Marks Art’s coffin was when I reported in May that I had tracked Smith down, not to a secret address in London, but to a hideout in northern Cyprus, where the UK does not have an extradition treaty. He is fleeing a four-year prison sentence after leaving a woman seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Surrey.
His UK art fraud since he fled was run by front men and sales agents, with him pulling the strings from more than 2,000 miles away.
And now it’s over.
If you believe you are a victim of financial irregularity, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large volume of inquiries, it is not possible to provide personal responses. Please only send copies of the original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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