Police motoring club magazine publisher wound up in court

The court heard that Sage Media National was a magazine publisher based in Liverpool and produced a magazine titled Copperwheel on behalf of the West Midlands Police Motoring Club.

Trading from January 2018, Sage Media National pitched to businesses to advertise in the magazine. Concerns were raised, however, about the publishers before investigators from the Insolvency Service launched confidential enquiries into Sage Media National’s activities.

Investigators found that only four issues of the magazine, named Copperwheel, were published in more than two years of trading, with only 1,000 copies printed per issue and almost half of the adverts paid for had not been published in the magazine.

It was also discovered that to elicit further sales, the publishers claimed to prospective advertisers that more than 10,000 people across the UK and Europe read the magazine. The magazine, however, was only sent to around 50 members of the West Midlands Police Motoring Club, with the vast majority based in the West Midlands area.

Advertisers told investigators that the company used aggressive sales tactics, and many were invoiced for adverts they had not agreed to. One charity, having agreed to a single advert, was invoiced for two further adverts they had not agreed to and the invoice was paid from a volunteer’s personal funds.

At the hearing, Deputy District Judge Brown heard that the company had failed to retain and produce company records and £88,000 (€98,100) was withdrawn by the company director and not accounted for.

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