Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
The disgraced boss of Fleetwood-based BES Utilities, which specialised in supplying gas and electricity to small businesses, has been jailed for 13 years after being convicted of using lies and false claims to trick customers into signing up to costly contracts which made him £15 million.
Andrew Pilley, 53, was sentenced last Tuesday at Preston Crown Court following a five-year investigation and an eight-month trial. Pilley is the owner of Fleetwood Town Football Club and his company operates from the club’s ground. In 1996, he was jailed for four months for conspiracy to steal from the post office where he worked.
His lawyer told Judge Graham Knowles that Pilley, who had been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing, felt humiliated and was unhappy with his small prison cell. He had earlier asked not to have to sit in the dock. The judge told Pilley: ‘Here in court you are not special. You are a criminal. You are a fraudster.’
As well as the jail sentence, Pilley is banned from acting as a company director for 13 years. Pilley’s sister Michelle Davidson, 49, was a director of BES Utilities and worked alongside her brother. She was jailed for six years and disqualified as a director for nine years. Lee Qualter, 52, posed as the boss of Commercial Energy Limited, a supposedly independent sales firm based in Blackpool which cold-called small businesses and signed them up to BES.
Named: Judge Knowles (left) mentioned Tony Hetherington during Andrew Pilley’s trial
In fact, the sales firm was secretly controlled by Pilley and Davidson. Qualter admitted being a ‘puppet and a stooge’ and was jailed for seven years with a nine-year directorship ban.
The Mail on Sunday published a series of warnings against BES between 2010 and 2016, when a Trading Standards investigation began. The judge referred to this when he sentenced the fourth defendant Joel Chapman, 38, whose job as head of compliance was to ensure that sales staff acted honestly. Three separate sales calls were made to customers, with the lies in the first call. The following calls were harmless, and designed to trap customers into a contract without repeating the lies.
In 2016, helping readers escape from expensive long-term contracts with BES, I challenged BES to produce the recorded sales pitch. A reader had already been told by Chapman that only two recordings existed.
The judge told Chapman: ‘You later wrote to the same effect to Tony Hetherington, a financial journalist with The Mail on Sunday, who was on the case. You told the direct lie that only the contractual part of the call is recorded.’ Chapman was sentenced to eight months in prison. Company records show that Andrew Pilley and his sister Michelle Davidson continue to own BES from behind bars.
But, in events that could have come straight from the TV drama Succession, they have quit as directors of the group, handing day to day control to their children.
The new directors of the multi-million pound utilities business are Rowan Davidson, 21, Jamie Pilley, 26, and Melissa Pilley, 18.
Why is refund for flight in my ‘Ryanair Wallet’?
Ms E.M. writes: I booked a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Rome. It cancelled the flight, so I wrote to Ryanair for a refund. I got no reply. I called, but could not afford to hang on in its automated queue. My travel insurer helped me get through to Ryanair and I was told I would be paid within days. Then Ryanair texted, saying the flight number was unrecognised even though Ryanair had issued it to me.
Credit: The Ryanair flight to Rome was cancelled due to strikes
Tony Hetherington replies: At the time you were due to fly, Italy was hit by Air Traffic Control strikes which grounded aircraft. This means the usual compensation scheme would not apply – but you should still get a refund, of course.
After I contacted Ryanair, you were told that a refund of £299 had been paid into your ‘Ryanair Wallet’. Neither you nor I had come across this before, but it is a digital account where Ryanair stores refunds which you can use to book new flights or transfer in cash.
The airline has since credited the refund back to your bank card, which seems a lot simpler, and you confirmed it has arrived.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
