Rights & Wrongs has played a leading part in stopping a Norwegian firm obtaining money for first-aid kits sent out unsolicited to Bradford people.

Since November last year we have been reporting how Royal Consulting has been sending out the £23 kits to homes all over West Yorkshire and then demanding payment.

We told how West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers advised people who received a kit to write to Royal Consulting giving the firm 30 days in which to collect it or arrange for its return. After that period the householder can keep the item.

And the Director General of Fair Trading, John Bridgeman launched an investigation into Royal Consulting.

Now householders who received a kit but did not pay for it are being sent a letter from Surrey-based European Collectors & Investigations Ltd asking them to explain why the account is still outstanding.

The letter asks when they received the kits, whether they paid, in what form and if so how much and to whom.

It then asks them, if they have not paid, to explain why.

At the bottom is a Barclays Bank giro credit form for payment of the amount.

But Barclays Bank moved quickly after being alerted by Rights and Wrongs - and thanked us for telling them about it.

A spokesman said: "In January we acted to stop payments to Royal Consulting using a Barclays account for a Dutch distribution firm because we were getting calls from customers. When it was drawn to our attention, we didn't want to be a part of it and we closed the account.

"But this is the first I have heard about a different arrangement to collect money. We didn't know anything about this latest company using one of our accounts. And as of Tuesday morning we have stopped payments into the account.

"We would like to say thank you to Rights and Wrongs for bringing this to our attention. Since your call we have been deluged with inquiries from individuals all over the country who have received similar letters."

Rights and Wrongs has discovered that Royal Consulting has sold its sales ledger - the amount of cash it claims it should receive for the kits it has sent out - to another Norwegian company Finance Credit Norge ASA.

This firm in turn has hired European Collections & Investigations Ltd to find out why the individual accounts haven't been paid - apparently unaware the kits were unsolicited and therefore demand for payment was illegal.

Alan Jones, general manager of ECI Ltd, told Rights and Wrongs his company was not connected in any way with Royal Consulting and was unaware of the uproar and publicity generated locally and nationally by the firm.

Mr Jones said: "Finance Credit Norge is a legitimate company which has bought the sales ledger, and they have employed us to ascertain the true facts of the ledger and the true status of each account. Obviously everything is now on hold after your call and we will be contacting our clients."

A West Yorkshire Trading Standards spokesman confirmed that, under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act (1982), it was illegal for a firm to demand payment for items sent unrequested to householders.

He added: "The letter being sent out from ECI is not a demand itself, more a questionnaire with attitude, but the threat is there - it's implicit. Our advice to anyone receiving this latest letter is to complete it and return it to the firm, explaining that the bill has not been paid because the goods were unsolicited."

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