Before opening his new restaurant, Chris McLeod’s phone was ringing with calls from companies selling energy contracts.
Sales associates employed “high-pressure” tactics, warning the businessman that he had emergency rates and needed to cut his bills.
After being promised a price match with E.On, at £250 to £300 a month, McLeod cracked down and struck a deal with Business Energy Solutions (BES), who he now believes were behind all the nuisance calls.
It was the beginning of a nightmare that led to the closure of his restaurant in just nine months – and bankruptcy.
McLeod is one of dozens of victims of a deceptive energy sales fraud masterminded by BES owner Andrew Pilley – highlighted by The Mail on Sunday and now ultimately leading to Pilley’s jail time.
Bankrupt: Mr. McLeod outside Onjance’s former location, which he was forced to shut down after falling for a money-buying scam
Just a year after his wife Tracy passed away due to medical negligence, McLeod began opening his restaurant in 2011, specializing in high-end English cuisine.
But the bills faced by Onjance (a name suggested by one of his three children while misspelling orange) in Newark, Nottinghamshire, quickly rose from £433 to £1,400 a month, more than fourfold.
After McLeod, who employed 10 staff, became unable to pay, BES shut off the electricity and changed the locks, leading to the restaurant’s immediate closure in 2012.
He reopened in new premises and traded for another two years, but the cost pressures, including the loss of money in the old premises, became too much to bear.
BES continued to pursue him, causing him to go bankrupt in 2015.
A court heard that McLeod, now 57, wasn’t alone in falling victim to deceptive sales by BES and affiliates, who scammed small businesses into ruinous contracts — sending some to the wall.
Among those scammed were bed and breakfast operations, hair salons, sandwich shops, small hotels, dog groomers, and even charities, including one for childhood cancer victims.
Companies that did not sign up were sent unexpected requests. The owner of an audiovisual company said, “I was getting 20 to 30 calls an hour for days on end, all from different numbers.
‘I never agreed anything because I had a supplier, but they started sending bills.
“I even got a call from someone pretending to be outside one of my properties with a warrant to enter and demanding immediate payment.
“It was shocking behaviour. You can’t do that to small businesses.’ BES’ behavior was first highlighted by The Mail on Sunday in 2010.
This month, Pilley was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted of £15 million fraud following an eight-month trial at Preston Crown Court.
McLeod said, “I was absolutely thrilled. This man actually sabotaged my future. I am still suffering from the effects, stress and health.
“I had lost my wife, then I lost my business and went bankrupt. The financial loss was at least £160,000.’
The court heard that Pilley, 53, tried to silence critics, trying three times to take legal action against small business owners who set up a blog describing their experiences and helping others complain to authorities.
When The Mail on Sunday issued warnings not to sign Pilley’s contracts, his lawyers threatened the newspaper with legal action.
The court heard that he not only lied to the newspaper but also to energy regulator Ofgem.
MoS financial reporter Tony Hetherington said, “Pilley hired expensive lawyers to try and stop us. They threatened to sue us for libel. We went ahead and warned against BES, but I wonder how those lawyers feel now that Pilley is incarcerated.
Crook: BES owner Andrew Pilley, pictured with football manager Joey Barton, was jailed for 13 years after being convicted of £15m fraud
Pilley ransacked small businesses for over a decade, making a fortune while customers suffered or perished. Ofgem should certainly consider whether it might be fair to hold its victims to their contracts.’
National Trading Standards then brought the prosecution.
At sentencing, Judge Graham Knowles told Pilley, “This is a dirty story about dirty lies, greed and fraud.”
He said, “In most companies anyone who tells lies gets fired, but in yours the best liars were promoted.”
Prosecutor Andrew Thomas described Pilley as the “dominant figure” in a fraud case involving a web of companies defrauding small businesses.
The court heard that Pilley, owner of Fleetwood Town Football Club, targeted small businesses through bogus schemes associated with bona fide companies Business Energy Solutions Ltd, BES Commercial Electricity Ltd and Commercial Power Ltd.
A telesales operation run by companies that appeared to be independent, with another defendant Lee Qualter as sole director, was in fact controlled by Pilley and his sister Michelle Davidson, 49, directors of the BES delivery companies.
Between 2010 and 2015, the annual turnover of the two BES companies grew from approximately £15 million to £75 million. In 2019, turnover exceeded £100 million. Annual profits were between £2 million and £12 million.
To mitigate, Pilley’s attorney Jonathan Laidlaw said, “It’s a humiliating and humiliating fall.”
Lord Michael Bichard, chairman of National Trading Standards, said: ‘Small businesses were deliberately misled and locked into lengthy and expensive energy contracts, causing them to struggle to pay the bills and many to go under.
“These sentences send a strong message that crime doesn’t pay – not even for influential and well-known people like Andrew Pilley.”
Also found guilty of fraud were: Davidson, of Thornton-Cleveleys, who was jailed for six years; Qualter, 53, of Thornton-Cleveleys, was jailed for seven years; Joel Chapman, 38, of Willerby, West Yorks, who was sentenced to eight months.
Prosecutors are now investigating whether they can seize Pilley’s assets to compensate his victims.
A spokesman for Ofgem said: ‘Our top priority is consumer protection. As part of this we conducted a long and complex investigation into BES (BES Commercial Electricity Ltd and Business Energy Solutions Ltd) and the outcome of this case was published in December 2015.
‘Any BES customer who believes they have sold an energy contract incorrectly can contact BES.
‘Clients who are micro-business consumers may refer their case to the Ombudsman if their complaint has not been resolved to their satisfaction, or if eight weeks have passed and the complaint has stalled.
BES is required by law to properly record and handle complaints from microbusiness consumers, and failure to do so may constitute a violation of those relevant rules.
“Ofgem is keen to improve supplier behavior and improve consistency and transparency for non-domestic customers. That is why we conduct a market survey of the foreign market.
“We will publish our views and recommendations when we launch a policy consultation shortly.”
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