Hi all, sorry i meant to say that i have also searched the net for any public records that may give us some indication as to how the Club is registered... but i cannot find anything of use. The current web site is dwmc2.co.uk Thanks again Glenn

Hi all, firstly I would like to say thanks for your support so far. My parents today applied for the case to be Set Aside and have provided additional information as to their position in this situation in hope that the case is thrown out. Ok, I will try and answer your questions the best I can based on information I got today from my father and the ex-secretary... however I am finding it very difficult to get any concrete info on the Working Mens Club in question, no one seems to know really whether it is a Trust or indeed a Commercial organisation, its ownership or management seems very hazy. One thing I would point out, there seems to be assumption here that my father was a Trustee, in fact he wasn’t, neither was the ex-secretary whom I will name as Jackie from here on, but I understand that the club did have Trustees. My dad was just a member, he then became a Committee Member (voluntary, basically wore a badge and helped move along punters at closing time), he was requested to sit in as acting president for a period of time... Jackie's role was Club Secretary which was a paying job. The club in question was the Dagenham Working Mens Club, it has been taken over in 2012 and is now called DWMC2. It suffered bad financial difficulties and nearly closed prior to two investors taking over and refurbishing the place this year. The Finance Company in these two agreements is Bank of Scotland Leasing. The Leasing Companies are Tower Leasing and Admiral Leasing. We dont know the name of the installer. The bailiff is from HCE (High Court Enforcement) I do have copies of the agreements which were sent to us from the court, although one of these agreements is barely legible as the print is very bad (my father has requested another copy). Agreement 1 (Tower): The form title is 'Hire Agreement Regulated by he Consumer Credit Act 1974' The Hirer is stated as Dagenham Working Mens Club. In box asking for 'signature', both Jackie and my father has signed. In box asking for 'name printed' only Jackie’s name is there with her title in brackets beside her name. In box asking for position my father has wrote his name with no position stated, so they haven’t filled the form correctly. there is a section called 'Declaration for exemption relating to business (it says something in brackets to do with Consumer Credit Act but I cant quite read it. the paragraph under it says something in terms of 'we understand that we will not have the benefit and remedies that would be available under the consumer credit act if this agreement were regulated under this act' it is too difficult to read after this but im not sure if they have waived their rights to this protection... there is no signatures in this section... sorry I cannot really read this section very well. The next section is the Direct Debit instruction to the bank. Here in the box - 'Name of Account Holders' it has been written in 'Trustees of Dagenham Working Mans Club'. Jackie and my father have signed it. There is a statement of account for the agreements which shows regular monthly payments were made from Aug 08 until May 09. Both my father and Jackie had left by then. Then there are no more payments but charges continue until Apr 10 and the final arrears show as £11,192.00 which inc settlement charge of £8079.00. (there are 'letter' and 'collection' fees stated in the statement). Agreement 2 (Admiral, trading name of Universal Leasing) Same form title as agreement 1. Hirer is named as Dagenham Working Mens Club. Both my father and Jackie have signed and both have put their printed names and titles in the correct location. They also appear to have a witness signature. No mention of a waiver of Consumer Credit Act on this agreement. Statement of account is supplied, it shows regular payments were made between Sept 08 until June 09. no more payments made after this date but charges continued until March 10. Arrears ended at £4,587.78 inc settlement fee of £3,445.36 (there are 'letter' and 'unpaid DD' fees stated in the statement). Ok so that’s the two agreements. The agreements were sent to us on the 3rd Sept 2012 with a letter from HCE (High Court Enforcement), It states 'Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Limited' v (1) Jackie (2) my father. It then goes on to say please find enc agreement. Please contact our office ASAP to discuss how this matter will be discharged. Thats about it, there is no data stating what their claim against my father is based on. Other info: Leased Equipment was still on site when Jackie left (after my father stood down) but that would have been before account went into arrears. im not sure if it is still there. No problem or fault with any of the equipment that we know of. Jackie seems to think the club was registered either as commercial or provident but she is not 100% sure (sorry i know this doesnt help much). There was apparently no insurance cover or legal representation at the club at the time of the agreement. There was another person who did look after the accounts though, I wonder if we should contact him to get his take on what occurred post June 2009? Thanks again, please ask further questions if needed. Glenn

Hi, my first post, hopefully someone can give me some advice. Sorry it’s a long one... Ok, my father who is now 71 used to be 'acting president' for a Working Mans Club (WMC) for a period of about 12 months, its a voluntary position in an organisation which is run by a committee of trustees and all users of the club are paying 'club members' (sorry if its already confusing, im not completely clear on the structure of the WMC myself). He was just a regular in the club and a long term member, he was voted in to this temp position by the trustees, he accepted. It was agreed throughout the trustees that new equipment was required and therefore they decided to enter into two leasing arrangements for this equipment. The Secretary arranged and signed the leases (which state the hirer as the WMC) and my father countersigned the agreements with his position stated as well. This was back in 2008. The club made regular payments for the next few months, in this time my father stepped down from his position and returned to being just a member of the club, not long after the club secretary also left her post. Between the above and now, the club has new ownership and has been renamed. My father still uses the club. About 3 weeks ago a bailiff knocked on my parents door stating that they had a court order to remove possessions to the sum of 25k... my parents were given paperwork to say the courts had ruled that my father and the ex secretary were liable for the non payment (and interest added) of the above agreements!! The lease payments were being made during the time my father and the secretary were in their positions but it seems that the club discontinued paying anything after that!! But neither my father nor the ex-secretary have had a single letter, call or visit before the visit from the bailiff!! But there has been a court hearing and ruling and we have not heard from anyone at any time until 3 weeks ago!! My parents managed to get a stay of execution while they look into things... they got a copy of the agreements from the courts. Both agreements state that the hirer is 'the WMC' and my father’s signature is on both of them, along with the ex-secretaries. There are no other personal details on there of either my father or the ex-secretary. We are not even sure how they got the personal addresses. We have an account statement for both leases that shows the clubs payments stop suddenly, and then there are letter costs, interest charges, non payment charges etc... My parents do not qualify for legal aid, they can’t afford a solicitor. They have requested all courts notes as we cannot really understand the grounds on what the courts deem my father responsible and not the club itself... the courts have told us that we have to pay £80 just for the notes with a view to getting a new hearing. I was hoping that someone might be able to shed some light on this matter for me? My parents do not need this kind of stress at their age... Do you think the finance company is just trying its luck? shouldnt they be harrassing the new club owners? I just cant imagine signing an agreement on behalf of an organisation then leaving the company but still being personally liable for any eventualities on that agreement!! Sorry this post is long, if you have any questions then please ask. Thanks in advance for any help you can give, apologies if this should have been in a different forum. Glenn