- Michael Lord-Castle
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Michael Lord-Castle (born September 5, 1959 in Birmingham) is an English business man. His business interests are wide and varied.
He is Managing Director of Vizexon Limited - a bio-security/disinfectant company that recently sponsored 'The World's Most Hygienic Airline' award presented to Emirates Airlines.[1] Michael personally awarded the accolade to Adel Al Redha, Executive Vice President Emirates Airlines Engineering & Operations.[2]
In 2001 Michael pioneered the brand new concept of the world's first business class only airline: Blue Fox Executive Airlines. With Lord-Castle as CEO and Rt Hon Lord Tebbit as Chairman,[3] the airline was due to fly from Stanstead to the US but the project was grounded after the bottom fell out of the market following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the business class airline failed to fly.[4]
In 1985 he founded the Insolvency Advisory Service, the UK's largest privately owned corporate rescue and redevelopment practise.[4] Lord-Castle is Senior Partner at IAS. According to Euro Business magazine he 'formed the International Academy of Aviation, one of the first schools outside the UK teaching students to become commercial pilots', 'has strong commercial links with the British and American governments, having once worked on secondment as a civilian attaché to Manama', and 'controls C2, a service advising governmental agencies and commercial organisations on large scale fraud and fraud investigations.' [4]
Michael is a Commander for the Global Protection Committee (GPC). GPC hit the headlines in 2006 when they were accused of being mercenaries seeking to facilitate a Coup d'état in the Maldives.[5] According to Minivannews.com, however, 'GPC’s fact-finding team was requested to visit Maldives by various political figures including MEPs, MPs, senators and Foreign National Ministries. They requested that GPC produce a report for the European Parliament.'.[6]
Lord-Castle: “I give them (Maldivians) my solemn word and the word of the Global Protection Committee that we will use every power we have to remove this corrupt dictator (President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom) and give the people of the Maldives their freedom” [6]
President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was subsequently removed from power November 11, 2008.
In 2005 Lord-Castle took on the giant food retailer Tesco on behalf of one of his client's companies who faced corporate insolvency and personal bankruptcy due to late settlement of invoices. After months of unsettled debts, Lord-Castle in conjunction with the director of the client company took the drastic step of circling Tesco's HQ in Cheshunt, Herts, with 25 lorries. The protest also involved sending lorries effectively to blockade Tesco's major food distribution depot in Southampton and one of their biggest stores in Camberley, Surrey. The director commented: 'Tesco were either very slow to pay invoices or they would withhold payments altogether. I couldn't pay my drivers and was on the verge of insolvency. I was forced into blockading their business premises to make them pay up - it was the only way.' Subsequent to this action, the creditor, Tesco, eventually paid its outstanding debts to the firm but only after being forced to mount a lorry blockade at the company's headquarters.[7]
Michael Lord-Castle appointed Senior Investigator to the Victoria Fintrade scandal 2003. In excess of £380 million was received from Victoria Fintrades clients’ throughout Europe and USA. Fintrade operated an advance fee fraud scheme akin to the Nigerian 419 scam. Although the investigation and subsequent arrests were successful, little of the money has been recovered. Lord-Castle worked jointly as head of operations with FBI, Interpol and Serious Crime unit UK. link http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/mission-impossible-the-rangers-takeover-attempt-by-ethan-hunt-1.1027050
In 2004 Michael Lord-Castle was labelled an 'Anglo-Saxon thug' by French President Jacques Chirac after upsetting the notoriously tetchy French Trade Unions whilst salvaging a British business with a factory in Dourdan.[8] Lord-Castle claimed the slur was an honour and stated the French had robed the English with his role being to get the money back which he purportedly did- £8 million in one night.
Penman and Sommerlad, investigative journalists for the Mirror newspaper, claim they "could write a book on Michael Lord-Castle" [9] and have noted he is "cagey" about many of his business activities.
In May 2009 Lord-Castle's Insolvency Advisory Service fell foul of the Advertising Standards Agency, which upheld two complaints about a fax sent from the company, saying it "was likely to mislead recipients into believing that they had received a payment demand from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs" and "it was likely to cause undue fear and distress to recipients".[10]
On 11 December 2006 Mr Lord-Castle appeared at Yarmouth Magistrates Court court charged with speeding. The court heard that "Lord-Castle, 47, had set up his own one-man, self-styled ambulance service - albeit existing an 8 man team and being a member of the British Ambulance Association, London Ambulance Donor Service (LADS),[11] and spent £14,000 converting the car [a BMW] with blue lights and specialist equipment so he could help out at accidents he came across during his annual 60,000 miles of business travel".Mr Lord-Castle told the court: "At one stage the organization had grown to include four vehicles and had carried out work transporting organs and body parts for hospitals". He had reportedly told police he had the right to do 47 mph in a 30 zone as he was "using his car as an ambulance...he had probably attended 30 to 50 incidents in the previous year". Later charges against Lord-Castle for driving a car with a blue beacon and blue strobe lighting were withdrawn by the CPS upon a DPP ruling. 2 further charges brought about by the same (Hampshire) Police force were withdrawn as they were considered “not in the public interest”.[12] Interestingly this was shortly after Mr. Lord-castle visited the Hampshire Chief Constable at his residential address.
Michael Lord-Castle has been asked to help with keeping the Avro Vulcan XH558 in the air through various fund raising activities including using his influence with other Governments by reminding them the value this silent deterrent provided for all the democratic world. XH558 being the only flying Vulcan in the world and contrary to common belief it is funded entirely by voluntary contributions and is not part of the Royal Air Force historic flight programhttp://www.crawleyboxing.co.uk/news/news_view.php?id=214
CRAWLEY BOXING Club and the Maltese Government have demonstrated that they are gretfeul for the considerrable effort made by Lord castle bringing to gether this Muslim Community via the art of boxing. http://www.crawleyboxing.co.uk/news/news_view.php?id=214
Notes
- ^ 'Spotless record in the world of hygiene' 4 September 2008 http://www.transguardgroup.com/050204.asp
- ^ Safar Newspaper For Staff of the Emirates Group 21st August 2008 Issue 221 p.3
- ^ Andy Hopper, Cambridge Network, 16/05/01, 'All-business airline promises new era' http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=23971
- ^ a b c Euro Business August 2001 Vol 3 Issue 3 Oliver Edwards pp.49-50
- ^ Minivan News, Aminath Najeeb, 'What is the Global Protection Committee?' 15 November 2006 http://www.minivannews.com/minutes_detail.php?id=2626
- ^ a b Minaivannews.com quoted Castle.http://www.haamadaily.com/English%20Section/nov/18-11-06/gov.htm
- ^ Tesco blockaded over unpaid bills Sean Poulter, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Daily Mail 21 April 2005, http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=399887&in_page_id=2
- ^ BBC News: Newsnight Wednesday, 26 May 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3749909.stm
- ^ http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2009/05/lord-castle-needs-to-get-fax-s.html
- ^ http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46166.htm
- ^ http://www.l-a-d-s.co.uk/rta.htm
- ^ Lord-Castle v Director of Public Prosecutions, Court of Appeal - Queen's Bench Division, January 23, 2009, [2009] EWHC 87 (QB) http://vlex.co.uk/vid/52733669#ixzz0mVSICKK
Official Blog for Michael Lordcastle: http://www.michaellordcastle.com/ Vizexon Website: http://www.vizexon.com/
http://www.vulcantothesky.org/ http://www.crawleyboxing.co.uk/news/news_view.php?id=214
Categories:- English businesspeople
- Living people
- 1959 births
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