The Property Collection Partnership- Exposed
Introduction
Here we have assembled some links to useful information about Stamford based disqualified directors Craig Cook and Claire Cook, their failed businesses and, Property Collection Worldwide Ltd which is their current company. They have cost employees, suppliers, and HMRC around £2.5 million to date.
| Company | Amount Owed | Employees Affected | Incorporated | Dissolved |
| Cochrane Inns Ltd | ? | ? | 29 Mar 2001 | 5 Apr 2004 |
| Creative Leisure (Edinburgh) Ltd | ? | ? | 22 Nov 2002 | 4 Apr 2006 |
| Cream Worldwide Ltd | £1.1M | 12-20 | 30 Nov 2009 | 21 Feb 2014 |
| Cabec Ltd | £1M | 70+ | 3 Dec 2010 | 26 Jan 2017 |
| Cream Club Ltd | £384K | 45+ | 9 Feb 2012 | 19 May 2021 |
Note
Please click on the links for more information about each event. Events will be added as they become known.
Cochrane Inns Ltd
2001
The business was incorporated in March. Company Number SC217560. Craig Cook was a founding director and he described his role as Leisure Manager. The other founding director resigned in August.
2003
In March the business presented a petition to the Sherriff at Ayr inter alia that the business be wound up by the court and that an Interim Liquidator be appointed. Craig was the only director at this time. We do not know the sums involved or what happened next.
Creative Leisure (Edinburgh) Limited
2001
The business was incorporated in November. Company Number SC240008. Craig Cook was the founding director.
2003
2004
In January a notice to creditors was published by Begbies Traynor who later on became the administrators for Cabec Ltd (below). We do not know the sums involved or what happened next.
Cream Worldwide Ltd
2009
2011
February – Hunts Post article about the concerns of creditors.
Creditors are owed in excess of £725,000 according to this March article.
The business entered into a corporate voluntary arrangement in March.
2012
The business went into corporate voluntary liquidation in May. The previous arrangement had fallen into arrears.
2014
February – Dissolved with a net deficit of £1.1M. Somehow the business had no assets whatsoever to sell to reduce the deficit.
Result
The result was a disaster with £1.1 million of debts, numerous unpaid employees, suppliers and, HMRC out of pocket.
Cabec Ltd
2010
2011
August 2011 – Craig Cook appointed as a director.
2014
2015
Administration Started in May.
June – According to the statement of the administrator’s proposal, Cream Club Ltd bought the assets of Cabec Ltd for £50k (See page numbered -6-).
Craig Cook pledges to pay everyone back in August.
Result
The result was a disaster with £1m of debts, numerous unpaid employees, suppliers and, HMRC out of pocket.
Cream Club Ltd
2012
Craig and Claire incorporated the business in February.
2015
Trading begins in June. This follows the failure of Cabec Ltd.
2016
The Administrator liquidated Cream Club Ltd in January after only a brief period of trading.
Result
The result was a disaster with £384k of debts, numerous unpaid employees, suppliers and, HMRC out of pocket.
Property Collection Worldwide Ltd
2015
Craig and Claire incorporated Homebook.club Ltd in June.
Trading begins in December. This follows the failure of Cream Club Ltd.
2017
2017-2019 – The Insolvency Service investigates the Cooks’ behaviour at Cabec Ltd.
2019
Craig and Claire appointed Philip Dickinson as a Director and granted him 2 shares in December. He had served them for about 8 years. He was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
2020
March – Craig Cook and Claire Cook are disqualified from being directors of any UK company by the Insolvency Service for 8 and 5 years respectively.
Read about the disqualifications at Property Industry Eye and The Negotiator.
Craig Cook and Claire Cook resigned in March having been disqualified.
March – Philip Dickinson is now the only remaining director of Property Collection Worldwide Ltd. That means Philip is apparently now responsible for all PCW executive decisions, hiring and firing of staff and, management of the bank accounts.
Philip is a Sales Negotiator at Hockeys Estate Agents in Cambridge.
The possible penalties for breach of disqualification are severe.
Craig and Claire set up Property Collection Partnership in March. It is two sole traders in partnership. It is not a company. They changed the copyright notice on the website from PCW to PCP and it appears to be business as usual and the only difference seems to be that this time, the Cooks won’t be shrouded by the veil of limited company liability and so personally liable for their trade debts.
Property Collection Worldwide Ltd lost an Employment Tribunal Claim for unlawful deduction from wages, working time regulations and written pay statement in May. Apparently, a leopard can’t change his spots.
Property Collection Worldwide Ltd December accounts show that the £335k of creditors might well be concerned about the £314k valuation of intangible assets and £143k of ‘Other debtors’ which is up from £130k in the previous year (see note 6).
2021
April – Property Collection lost two employment tribunal claims having breached their contracts.
Companies House Links
Current VAT Registrations
- Property Collection Worldwide Ltd – GB 228221922 – 12 May 2016
- Property Collection Partnership – GB 344984463 – 29 March 2020
- Government VAT Check – Copy & Paste VAT Registration No. For more information