Member Article

Nissan worker wins legal case

A man from Seaham has finally won justice after a mis-sold pension threatened to destroy his retirement plans and leave him with no option but to continue working far longer than planned.

In 2011 John Lambert (49) was ‘cold-called’ about the possibility of investing in Sustainable AgroEnergy (also known as ‘Green Bio-Fuel’ and ‘Jatropha Trees’) and told that he could use his pension to fund the investment.

He was referred to Kynatson-Carnoustie Financial Consultancy Limited for FCA regulated financial advice and they advised that he transferred his Friends Life (formally Winterthur) pension of £22,495.47 into a Self-Invested Person Pension (SIPP) with Berkeley Burke. On their advice he then invested the pension in Sustainable Agro Energy.

But just six months later the Serious Fraud Office alerted Mr Lambert to its investigation into Sustainable Growth Group and its subsidiary companies Sustainable AgroEnergy plc and Sustainable Wealth (UK) Investments Ltd. As a result, it convicted three of the company directors of fraud and bribery offences and all investments were lost.

After five years of stress and worry over his lost pension funds and receiving just £173 compensation as a result of the Serious Fraud Office’s convictions, Mr Lambert enlisted the help of pension negligence specialists TLW Solicitors.

Within 12 months the firm won the case with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and recovered £39,039.99 compensation to reflect loss of pension growth and fees as well as the original investment.

TLW solicitor Fiona McClelland said: “Unfortunately this case is not unique. Increasingly we are seeing more and more cases where people are falling victim to pension scams, unsuitable financial advice and unscrupulous advisers.

“Many pension scheme members do not fully understand how their pensions work which makes it easier for the fraudsters to target them, convincing them their money is ‘frozen’ and, or, that by transferring it they could get a better return elsewhere.

“Often, when people realise they have fallen victim to a scam, they believe their money is lost and resign themselves to a difficult financial future. We want people to understand that all is not lost and by obtaining proper specialist legal advice there may well be a positive financial outcome.”

TLW believes the increased number of mis-sold pension cases is a stark reflection of the number of people still falling victim to unsuitable pension and investment advice. This is a belief supported by a recent Financial Conduct Authority consumer survey which found almost one in five (18%) people had received calls, texts or emails claiming to be from the government, offering retirement planning advice or a free pension review.

Mr Lambert added: “I genuinely had no idea what to do – where to get advice or who to trust, and truly believed I had lost all of my money. There was a lot of confusing and complicated information which I didn’t know what to do with, so I was relieved when TLW took over. Quite honestly, I thought I had nothing more to lose so figured it was worth doing.

“It has been a really worrying time for both me and my family and I am very grateful to TLW for the guidance and advice they have given me throughout this process. As well as the financial result they have also given me my peace of mind back, I would encourage anyone who thinks they may have been mis-sold a pension to get in touch.”

TLW Solicitors provides a comprehensive range of legal services across the UK to both individuals and business clients including professional negligence, serious personal injury and financial mis-selling.

www.tlwsolicitors.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lara Lovenbury .