'The damage has been horrendous. Every single window has been smashed three times in the last six months'
Page 35
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
denies. He claims that he has lost some of his business with Ford at its Transit manufacturing plant in Sway-thling after Ford received several calls a week about the company.
Recently appo:nted Ford training officer Aiden Bradford says it is true the company received a number of complaints about Wildern last year, but there have been none since he joined n a-d at the beginning of this year. The complaints took the form of letters and telephone calls but he does not know who they were from. The company continues to use Abba Wildern for LGV and forklift driver training "We found no substance in the complaints about Wildern, "says Bradford. "We are quite fussy in who we use."
Securicor has also been receiving complaints since awarding Wildern a contract to teach drivers in the South last September. Fisk says that 14 out of 15 Securicor trainee drivers pawed their tests first time, with the 15th passing at the second attempt.
Complaints have also been lodged with the police, according to Fisk: "A motorbike policeman came in and said he had been given instructions to stop all my vehicles. He had stopped two and found nothing wrong. When I wrote to complain the police assured me there would be no further trouble. However, unmarked cars started following my vehicles and questioning the instructors about their qualifications."
Driving schools in the area dismiss Fisk's claims of a campaign to discredit Wildern. "No one gives a hoot what he's doing," says Andrea Colwill, partner in Durley-based Enterprise Driver Training, which received a solicitor's letter from Wildern in March 1992 alleging Enterprise of spreading "malicious and untrue rumours" about Wildern. Colwill says the claim was completely untrue: "We are not interested in him—you have the normal rivalry between businesses but you don't go around rubbishing your rivals."
Colwill is convinced that none of the driving schools would attack Wildern's vehicles.
A second training company, written to by Wildern's solicit r on the same day in March last year has since changed ownership.
Jeff Green, boss of Bypass Driver Training near Southampton has not been contacted by Wildern's solicitor but he is equally adamant that driving schools have not ganged up on Fisk.He counts TNT, Tuffnells and TDG among his customers: "There is no vicious campaign against Wildern by other schools," says Green. "Our firm has been going seven years; why would! want to start poaching customers now?"
British Transport Police are still investigating the vehicle attacks at Swanwick Railway Station and say they have a "number of leads" but are not yet in a position to press charges. Witnesses and proof are hard to come by.
Fisk admits that his business had its shortcomings. An anonymous tip-off resulted in VAT inspectors arriving to say that they had received allegations that Wildern was taking undeclared cash for some of its training sessions. Fisk denies this happened, but admits that the subsequent investigation revealed he owed £9,000 in VAT. An offer to pay £8,000 was rejected and the VAT inspectors filed for bankruptcy against Fisk on 9 June, claiming over £17,000 in taxes and penalties. He owes another £100,000 to his bank.
Fisk says this is a far cry from the beginning of last year when, buoyed by the MoD contract, the RTITB-accredited firm ran 40 vehicles and had a classroom in Botley Assets totalled £750,000. The strain has put a great deal of pressure on his marriage: "I am permanently on the sick with anxiety and depression," says Fisk.
As well as Ford and Securicor, Abba Wildern provides LGV driver training for Whitbread, Bass Charrington, Havant Council and British Telecom. It employs six instructors.
The company has recently moved to a secure depot in the Fareham area, which should reduce the risk of attack. But it will be some time before Fisk, as a bankrupt, will legally be able to take part in running the business he set up in 1971.
One thing is clear: someone out there has got it in for Barry Fisk. Even though his downfall is partly his own fault, it looks like they have succeeded.
by Patric Cunnane