The lady says no – and she’s not for turning…
Imagine how Amanda Blanc, appointed Aviva’s Chief Executive in July this year, would feel if she woke up to find that her insurer had refused to insure her home, and that [...]
The Grand
Stainer’s Surrender?
Has Michael Stainer given up the ghost? Have those tired old fingertips clinging to the wreckage of the Grand finally lost their grip? Friday’s brief hearing before [...]
Stainer the false prophet
Like the biblical prophet some think he resembles, Michael Stainer has frequently prophesised the imminent collapse of part of the southern elevation of the Grand. As [...]
Stainer sent packing (again) in Tribunal humiliation
The latest full determination in a six-year saga of defeats in Tribunal and High Court hearings, was published on 11th August. The owners of the Grand, Hallam Estates, along [...]
A Gaping Gap at the Grand
Almost five year after the infamous dawn raid that saw Michael and Doris Stainer and their general manager arrested, Robert Richardson has finally abandoned the beleaguered [...]
The Dog (HMRC) Ate My Homework
How many times when a schoolboy at Bedford School did Michael Stainer use the excuse “the dog ate my homework”? We will never know, but we do know that he has been using [...]
Revealed: Michael Stainer Owes The Taxman £1.1 million
When Michael Stainer, Doris Stainer and Robert Richardson were arrested in July 2015, they were held in custody for approximately nine hours. Stainer described the dawn raid [...]
Knock, knock: bailiffs at the door is no joke
In yet another twist in the tortured tale of Michael Stainer’s activities, bailiffs turned up at the Grand on Thursday 4th June. They were looking for the “owners” or [...]
The Puppet Master Exposed…
When Michael Stainer “illegally” removed Henry Bolton in November 2018, as the new director of his various companies, and replaced him with “Robert Moss’, little did [...]
The Great Escape: the Remake
As Michael Stainer (again) and Hallam Estates, the company he set up in 1995 to keep control of the Grand, both slide towards insolvency under the burden of £500,000 of [...]
More missing flats – another mystery at the Grand
At a time when our local council is haemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate, and revenues have plummeted, the income from business and domestic rates is vital to maintain [...]
Free Handouts or a Genuine Lifeline? How Councils are ‘Managing’ the COVID-19 Financial Support Programme
Deserted streets, closed or shuttered shops, hotels and restaurants. It’s like a scene from any one of a dozen end of the world movies. The one though, that leaps to mind [...]
Liquidation Looms as Stainer and Hallam Estates Humiliated in the High Court – Again!
Hallam Estates, owners of the freehold of the Grand (Folkestone, Kent), lost yet another High Court battle in the Insolvency and Companies Court on February 21st. Hallam were [...]
The Stainer Mortgage Crisis
Every so often, Xmas comes early for those who believe in casting light into dark places. One such dark place is how Michael Stainer (pictured) has financed his activities [...]
The Stainer Scandal — Drowning in Debt part 2
Documents evidencing the extent of the financial mismanagement which led to the liquidation of eight companies under the directorship of Mr Stainer (pictured left) and [...]
Drowning in Debt
Behind all the legal shenanigans that make up a typical week at the Grand (pictured below), there is one inescapable fact. Debt……. “Creditors to right of them, [...]
A Grand Crime Solved!
The unsolved mystery of who brutally assaulted Michael Stainer at the Grand in late January 2018 was solved in Canterbury Crown Court on Monday December 2nd. 36-year-old, Roy [...]
It’s a Gas at the Grand
How would you feel if you suddenly got a red emblazoned final notice for over £2,700 for gas from an energy company you’ve never heard of? That’s what happened to one [...]
The Grand Escape — or Stainer’s Surrender?
What links the two pictures below? In a word “debt” On the left is a picture of the Marshalsea, immortalised in Dickens’s “Little Dorrit”. It housed a variety of [...]
Would You Stand By This Man?
A year ago, we called Michael Stainer A Grand Fantasist and a Grand Failure. Now, as yet another legal defeat batters the sinking Michael Stainer empire, is it time to call [...]
The Grand’s owners last appeal thrown out of the High Court “Totally without merit”!
In what had to be the last throw of the dice, the Grand’s freeholder, Hallam Estates lost its last battle in the High Court. Seeking to overthrow the July 2018 decision to [...]
The curious case of the flat that never was
Prepare for some nasty surprises over the coming months as the Insolvency Service take control of the assets of the bankrupt Michael and Doris Stainer. One of these is the [...]
Grand residents win costs award against their Landlord
Hallam Estates ‘unreasonable conduct … was of such seriousness and gravity…..” In yet another defeat, Hallam Estates Ltd, the freeholder of the Grand, were ordered by [...]
The Long Read: Vigilantes or Crime Stoppers? The Two Faces of FAPAC. (Part 1 & 2)
Fair Play and FAPAC: Crime Prevention or Vigilantism? Lucky Dover residents now enjoy the protection of one of the first Business Crime Reduction Partnerships (BCRP) in the [...]
The case of the Barrister who was never Instructed.
As the Grand continues to veer between tragedy and farce, we can now report on the case of the barrister who never was. For this we must thank a series of emails between [...]