I was the director of a company that had a trade account with screwfix. When the account was opened it was opened in the ltd companies name and I was never told about an directors guarentee.

The application form that I signed had been photocopied that many times most of the writing on it was illegible.. Stupidly I signed it and opened the account.

A couple of years later the company got into financial difficulties, became insolvent and folded. I soon received word from screwfix`s solicitors that I had signed a directors guarantee and was personally liable for the company debts to screwfix. I got a copy of the original agreement and it is totally illegible.. You can barely read any text on the agreement out it is that bad.

Ive to go to court next month as I`ve contested the claim as I was unaware I was signing such a guarantee and am unsure if they can enforce this as what Ive signed is unreadable.

Does anyone know if this can be enforced if its illegible and I wasn`t informed I was signing such guarantee ??

 here is a copy of the guarantee

drive.google.com/file/d/0B6TE6OZvjMKGSVVMLWY3NE9uUHc/view?usp=sharing

UNfortunately I cannot post links so you will need to copy paste the link above

bump

Thanks in advance for any advice on this issue

Can you please scan the agreement, then convert it to pdf format - you will then be able to pop it onto the forum.

I will ask someone with more knowledge to look in on you.

I will try and convert it to pdf and upload to the site when I get on my computer, im posting from a chromebook atm

pc issues please ignore

Some information for you.

Lets wait until we see the agreement CB

 

This is what it should look like...

 

http://www.screwfix.com/images/help/Trade_Acc_Application_23_09_10.pdf

 

But it may be similar to the following...

 

Useful threads...

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?347892-Liability-Personal-Gurantee-Screwfix-Direct

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?325859-Personal-Guarantee-Validity

Ok, I have finally got this converted to a PDF and attached to the bottom of this post,.. + I have some good news (or at least I hope its good news)...

When I posted this thread originally I said it was next month, But it was actually next week, which was today. I was worried their solicitors may visit the forum and see what I had posted and know it was me who was looking advice.

I went to court today and the judge said (not just to me, but to everyone) sometimes its better to try and solve things outside the court as sometimes it works in favour of both parties. I thought about this and spoke with their solicitor and offered half the money in installments over 24 months. He phoned them and they rejected it straight away saying the minimum they would take would be 75% to be paid within 1 month. I refused this and said I couldn`t afford it and said it would have to be over 2 years... Again he got on the phone to them and they said they would go for 75% over one year... I thought this was a bit much so informed him I would let the judge decide as I didn`t feel a personal guarantee existed, as I was not made aware of it, nor was the form legible enough to read if it actually existed..

When the judge dealt with the case I explained that I opened a credit account in screwfix unaware it had a personal guarantee had been included in the application forms. I remember filling the form out at the time of opening the account and it was a photocopy of what seemed like an application form, it was mostly illegible. The Judge agreed that it the section that included information about a personal guarantee was illegible, as was the copy she had received and the same with the copy their solicitor was try to use against me in court. She asked was there an original copy and their solicitor produced and clear application with no details on it. The Judge agreed that it was clear and included a section about a personal guarantee but also said that it was a blank form and not the one I have filled in and signed. She then asked their solicitor if he had a legible copy of the form I had filled in to which he replied they had not been able to locate it. She then asked me if I had an original copy and I explained to her that it was the same as the copy she had received as it was a poorly photocopied application form I had filled out in the shop.

She then explained to their solicitor that she cannot hold me responsible for a personal guarantee that was not legible and said if they wished to proceed they would need to provide a legible copy with my signature, and that they had 4 weeks to get it otherwise it would be ruled in my favour.

As stated already I know from the time of filling in the original application form that no legible version exists (or at least im 99% sure, there is just a slight element of doubt in my mind) The form I filled in looked as if it had been photocopied a few thousand times... I just hope they don`t come back with something within the next four weeks.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55913[/ATTACH]

This morning I received a court letter stating

"The case has been adjourned generally

IT HAS BEEN ORDERED that specific documents to be produced within 6 weeks of this order."

What exactly does this mean?"

They have to disclose the correct documents on which their claim relies upon within 6 weeks (to the court and yourself if the order states that).......if they fail the claim will be dismissed...so keep an eye on that date and prompt the court if necessary.

Andy

hi emptysack

sry too jump on your thread but i too are in the same situation at the moment with tradeuk/screwfix i did not no i was signing pg. The thing that different with me is that i did not fill the form out it was filled out by the sales counter rep and passed to me to sign but he kept a hold of the form as i signed it. does anybody think i can fight my my case aswell?

cheers

dlgiff

also pls let me know how you get on

cheers

dlgiff

I am exactly the same position, what is it with Screwfix and this ambiguous personal guarantee. The is criminal activity at best.

This may be of help. The following thread was started here, but not finished. It was finished on a different forum, so I've posted the summary below for you.

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?440822-Directors-guarantee-I-was-not-told-about

The bottom line for me is that they would need to prove that you entered into a valid agreement in support of their case, plus you were advised that it was a "Trade Account Application", with no references made to such an important clause within the agreement.

I went to court today and the judge said (not just to me, but to everyone) sometimes its better to try and solve things outside the court as sometimes it works in favour of both parties.

I thought about this and spoke with their solicitor and offered half the money in installments over 24 months.

He phoned them and they rejected it straight away saying the minimum they would take would be 75% to be paid within 1 month.

refused this and said I couldn`t afford it and said it would have to be over 2 years...

Again he got on the phone to them and they said they would go for 75% over one year...

I thought this was a bit much

informed him I would let the judge decide as I didn`t feel a personal guarantee existed, as I was not made aware of it, nor was the form legible enough to read if it actually existed..

When the judge dealt with the case as me I explained that I opened a credit account in screwfix unaware it had a personal guarantee had been included in the application forms.

I remember filling the form out at the time of opening the account and it was a photocopy of what seemed like an application form, it was mostly illegible.

The Judge agreed that it the section that included information about a personal guarantee was illegible, as was the copy she had received and the same with the copy their solicitor was try to use against me in court.

She asked was there an original copy and their solicitor produced and clear application with no details on it.

Judge agreed that it was clear and included a section about a personal guarantee but also said that it was a blank form and not the one I have filled in and signed.

She then asked their solicitor if he had a legible copy of the form I had filled in to which he replied they had not been able to locate it.

She then asked me if I had an original copy and I explained to her that it was the same as the copy she had received as it was a poorly photocopied application form I had filled out in the shop.

She then explained to their solicitor that she cannot hold me responsible for a personal guarantee that was not legible and said if they wished to proceed they would need to provide a legible copy with my signature, and that they had 4 weeks to get it otherwise it would be ruled in my favour.

As stated already I know from the time of filling in the original application form that no legible version exists (or at least im 99% sure, there is just a slight element of doubt in my mind) The form I filled in looked as if it had been photocopied a few thousand times... I just hope they don`t come back with something within the next four weeks.