And now for something completely different.
In 1991 Thermastor, was Britain’s’ 2nd largest double glazing company. Margaret Thatcher was on TV being shown the Peterborough factory by one of her captain’s of industry Johnny Morris. Then in the late spring at my BBCTV Watchdog desk I read a small paragraph in the financial pages stating they had gone bust for £21m. It smelt dodgy to me, and I started making telephone calls. I met the receivers, who chose to come clean and announce their concerns. Where had the money gone?
I was at this stage personna non grata at the consumer series BBCTV Watchdog Office. Demoted from Deputy Editor after the Petrol storm which is yet another tale for those sitting comfortably suffice to say that it had been an Ides of March experience.
So this story about Thermastor was to be my epitaph. For 2 years the new editor Sarah Caplin, who was Esther Ranzen's cousin and I had engaged in a war of words and scripts. I had been the incumbent Deputy Editor. Her getting the job was a 6th floor management stitch up. She knew nothing about consumerism or compassion for the underdog and the vulnerable. Her's was a silver spoon existence in a lavish home in Notting Hill, shared with her husband Nick Ross. She was very good however at pointing the finger of blame, accepting no responsibility and making the young researchers cry. Yes a bully.
I had been at Aunty Beeb since 1985, and it will become clear, that a Television career as an investigative journalist and factual TV programme maker, was sandwiched between two slices of Trading Standards Law enforcement work. Which is why I said at the beginning, I am a rather unique individual. Many asked how I did it. Well in TV you had no legal powers, no warrant, but you did have the power of persuasion, to make people stand up and be counted for what was right. Also, in my opinion, the TV name and shame stories we exposed in those years was more powerful than any court case, shame to say.
Standing up against their former boss were 2 administration girls who were left manning the telephone at the derelict old factory. They gave me the keys to Johnny Morris’s office. His filing cabinet was like an Aladdin’s cave full of incriminating evidence.
Now at this stage no law enforcement was looking into this major industrial collapse.
Morris had written to all his customers asking for the balances on installation to be paid up front even up to and including the day he went into liquidation. That is fraudulent trading. He also had no hope of making the windows as his suppliers had not been paid and had foreclosed on delivering materials. He had also used company funds to add to the splendour of his Oxshott Surrey mansion. He also had paperwork for a phoenix company to arise from the ashes of Thermastor to carry on, even a cold calling telephone script to contact potential customers in the new business name. .
It was easy to find and film interview countless customers who had lost their life savings, double glazing does not come cheap. There were also a queue of supplier creditors including the printing firm that had worked on the new phoenix company paperwork. These unpaid suppliers were now in danger of going to the wall too, after the collapse of Thermastor for £21m.
Morris was doorstepped by me and a film crew, with a group of his customers as he arrived for the creditor’s meeting.
In the interests of balance, he was given ample opportunity to state his case, and he did try to bluff his way out of it on camera. Doorstepping was my hallmark and expertise. Much like search warrants we had to hope luck was on our side despite all the preparation. It was an adrenaline rush to get the "crook" on camera by laying in wait.
After the half hour expose, on peak time BBC1, the files were handed over to the Serious Fraud Office, for a court case. However the money had all gone all spent on the helicopter, Aston Martin. claret, carpets and chandeliers. Let me entertain you!!
So catching crooks to put them in the dock or the TV screen was my forte.
Those were the days my friend we thought they would never end.
But they do.
Now I spend my time writing about what I achieved, which was a lot. Memories from the corners of my mind. I think it is a waste of all that money invested in me to train me, pass examinations, further refresher seminars, years of experience. Also the waste of skills, not a lot of people are born with.
But this is the English Way, the British way, to chuck people on the scrap heap. To make the same mistakes, because there are no old heads able to tell young up and coming heads. History then repeats.
The Government recently conducted a survey. Our survey said that people started to lose their brain ability at 40. I am , still under retirement age, but given up trying to get a job through the age discrimination barrier. However what the Government survey did not headline was the survey was completed by civil servants. So exactly, their brain power diminishes, because they like robots or sheep have to put one foot in front of the other when told to do so. "You are not paid to think, just to do what I tell you". Yes I was classified as a Maverick, a loose cannon, purely because I did what the public wanted and needed in my professional opinion and in response to individual complaints. I knew exactly where the sights on my cannon were aimed at, the incompetents in my office who tried to interfered and got in my way and the crooks in the high street.
In TV I was given freedom. I was appreciated for a time till , like the answer to the universe, I peaked at 42, then plateaued, then came across an abyss. I was unique. I was a square peg in a round hole. I found my own stories. I did not have to be fed.
But managers get worried. Certainly local government managers almost wet themselves.
The words of Ken my oldest dearest friend from Willesden County Grammar School: "Since we met, all those years ago our lives have moved in quite different directions and out journeys have been different too. I have always admired your independence, determined to be your own man. I know it has brought you highs and lows, but for me it brought great memories. Glad we are still pals long may it last".
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