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NGRS Lose Again and again....

The NGRS are no stangers to the court process and have notched up several court victories against ex-members of their organisation in the past. In many cases the removers did not even attend the court hearing or simply attempted to defend themselves. This would obviously put any remover at a distinct disadvantage as the NGRS employ legal teams costing many hundreds of pounds an hour.

However, the tide now appears to have turned. In February/March 2014 The High Court heard a case brought by the NGRS against Derek Milner of Intransit Removals and Storers. The NGRS claimed trade mark infringement, copyright infringement, breach of contract and passing off. However, things didn't quite go according to plan...click here for details

update September 2015 update

Yet another trip to the court ends in humiliating defeat for the National Guild of Removers and Storers

A Court in Oxford was the venue for the September fixture of the NGRS legal fiasco roadshow. Having been totally humiliated in several earlier court encounters with McCrorys Removals the NGRS decided to set themselves up for another legal kicking when they ill-advisedly appealed an earlier decision.

In the original decision the judge described the NGRS' claim against Patrick McCrory as 'wholly unmeritorious' and seemed amazed that such an action was ever brought.

In the appeal the judge commented that whoever had drafted the NGRS contract in the first place had done so in such a concise way that it actually undermined their whole claim. It therefore seems absolutely bizarre that any competent legal team working in their client's best interests would have advised the NGRS to commence such a claim in the first place!

The Judge obviously dismissed the NGRS appeal.

Oh well, I guess the only thing the NGRS need to do now is to send Mr McCrory a nice big cheque to cover his legal costs.

If you're a member of the NGRS and would like to continue funding the Guild's suicidal legal expeditions then carry on paying your yearly subs...If however you'd prefer to distance yourself from these people please click here.


update May 2015 update
NGRS v Numerous members of the Removals industry!

There aren't many companies out there who having been described as litigious would then actually take court action to try and prove they are not...but that's exactly what the National Guild of Removers and Storers (NGRS) did!... And it turned out to be a predictably humiliating day in the High Court for them as, once again, things didn't quite go according to plan!

Having sent out pre-action letters to over a dozen people the NGRS then made an application to ask the High Court to order the removers to divulge who was at a meeting and what was said. However, Master Yoxall pointed out a fairly basic error made by the NGRS' legal team in that they had not actually given any details of their claim yet and therefore legal proceedings were not ongoing. Master Yoxall then threw out the application and ordered the NGRS to pay the defendants' costs. He then told the NGRS that they had to serve the actual claim on the defendants by 16th May 2015...otherwise the claim would be struck out!

Having had their application described by Master Yoxall as 'Manifestly defective' the NGRS and their highly paid legal team then slithered off into the darkness to see if there was anything they could do to save their blushes. The best they could come up with was to drop their proposed action against all but one of the defendants!

I'll be reporting on the outcome of that action at the appropriate time.

I'm sure that any present member of the NGRS would be horrified to see how their subscriptions are being spent!

Nobody has yet drummed up the courage to ask Mr Geoff 'you piece of sh#t I'll own your house' Salt for his comments on the matter.

Click here to read McCrory's Removals blog for more details.


November 2014
NGRS v Anthony and Catherine Statham of Marubbi’s Removals

Another complete disaster for the National Guild of Removers and Storers, this time at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. The NGRS came to court expecting to be awarded £40,000 + costs (a further many tens of thousands of pounds) but walked away with their tail between their legs as the Judge denied their claim for costs and awarded them just 5.4k.

Click here to read the artlicle from the DAILY MIRROR titled "Shocking footage captures boss threatening businessman: 'You piece of s***, I'll own your house' "


September 2014
NGRS v Patrick McCrory of McCrory's removers

Having gone to trial at Milton Keynes Court expecting the judge to order McCrory's removers to pay them nearly 40k in costs and damages the NGRS left court having to pay £5,000 to McCrory's!!! Oh dear, it's all going terribly wrong (again)... congratulations to Patrick McCrory!

Click here to read the McCrory blog to get a small taste of things to come.


February/March 2014
NGRS v Derek Milner of Intransit Removals

The NGRS were represented by Mr Jonathan Hill. Mr Milner was represented by Thomas St Quintin (instructed by Backhouse Jones solicitors).

On 18th March 2014 the court ruled against the NGRS. The full judgement can be found by clicking here: The conclusion of the judgement is as follows:

73. NGRS's claim against Mr Milner fails in relation to trade mark infringement, copyright infringement and passing off. It also fails in relation to breach of contract to in so far as this allegation was raised.

74. Mr Milner's counterclaim succeeds to the extent that TMs 351 and 710 are revoked for non-use and TM 722 is also revoked for non-use in relation to all classes save Class 39. The counterclaim otherwise fails.

In the interest of fair play and justice you should read the whole judgement. It's very enlightening!

NGRS Membership Secretary, Jon Martin, gave evidence at the hearing.

In January 2013 Mr Martin stated to me that 'we (the NGRS) are an honourable and extremely fair organisation that only litigates as a last resort'. Really? It seems to me that despite Mr Milner actively doing everything in his power to avoid having the NGRS logo appear on his ads he was still pursued all the way to the High Court in an attempt to win damages against him. Doesn't sound like the way an 'honourable and extremely fair organisation' should act to me.

On the 18th March 2014 Mr Martin wrote an extensive email to me. Not only did he ask me to remove my website within 48 hours but he also made the following statement (presumably written before the above court judgement was released) regarding previous legal action brought by the NGRS :

'If there was no infringement or the claims were ill-founded, NGRS would not have been successful.'

Mr Martin also included several links to the NGRS website. One of which directed me to a survey carried out by the NGRS which (unsurprisingly) clearly showed how happy its members were with their NGRS memberships.

Another link directed me to what I can only describe as a puerile rant against those ex-members (and others) who have dared to stand up to the NGRS.

An independant third party view of the High Court judgement can be found by clicking here.

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