thornton ridge and partners

[Jessie]

have any members heard of or had any dealings with thornton ridge and partners solicitors who specalialize in timeshare and holiday club cases.

[Fred 2]

Thornton Ridge and Partners are not solicitors. If they have told you that they are they are breaking the law. If they act for you they will charge you at least 50% of recoveries. They will give no guarantee. They are unlikely to have any success at all unless payments were made by credit card and in this case you can deal with it just as effectively yourself at no cost.

Web site www.thorntonridgeandpartners.co.uk/

Much of the information on the site relating to Holiday Clubs has been copied directly and word for word from the Timeshare.org.uk site so clearly they themselves have no knowledge or they wouldn’t have needed to pinch it. TCA confirms that they do not have authority to lift text from the TCA site, so it gives you an idea of Thornton Ridge's general morality.

Their phone number places them in Wolverton, Milton Keynes. There is a company, Thornton Ridge Limited, incorporated in May 05 and listed for striking off. No Annual Return has been filed. This is also based there. The web site is still live but faulty. If they are operating the site while waiting to be struck off they are breaking company regulations.
http://www.thorntonridge.co.uk/
clearly the same people and bearing all the hallmarks of a “we buy your timeshare” type scam. I bet this site is taken down immediately if they read this. The actual address is 57-59 The Brunel Centre, Bletchley, Milton Keynes. This address is also home to
http://www.nationwide-land-estates.co.uk/
which specialises in selling very expensive housing plots on land without planning permission, very often Green Belt, on the basis that they will be able to get permission at some time in the future – even when the Local Authority has said that this cannot happen. Nice. Of course… there may be no connection, but what do you think?

I don’t think that you should go near these people. Not good for financial health.

[Jessie]

Fred thanks for the information regarding thornton ridge and partners very much appreciated

Jessie

[Fred 2]

I have found a cached page from the Grumbletext site (this has unfortunately been hacked and killed off) which suggests that Thornton Ridge have a connection with Resorts International Limited which was itself closely connected with Cybertravel, a major sc*m. They seem to have been given access to the membership records (illegal) - which enabled them to tout for business. It tends to get worse the deeper you dig.

[FastLemon]

Beware People
I have recently been contacted by someone representing Thornton Ridge and Partners. They are again offering to recover our original money from the failed "CyberTravel" scam, that failed some years back.
From reading an earlier post on your forum, (thanks to Fred 2), we will send them packing. However, their company was listed to be struck off the companies register but they still appear to be trading. The website for Thornton Ridge and Partners is off-line but an incomplete website still exists for Thornton Ridge (?) selling properties in Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Turkey and Tenerife. Are these the same people??? Who knows?
Whatever, I hope this helps others from getting involved with an organisation who seem to be getting their customer data from some source related to CyberTravel (which, under the Data Protection Act, may be illegal).

[Fred 2]

I have been watching these people for some time and I am extremely surprised that there is no "official interest" in Thornton Ridge. Thornton Ridge Limited was dissolved without filing any accounts or Returns. An old post on Grumbletext says that it shared a director with Resorts International Limited, said to have been connected with the "Cybertravel scam". Clearly thay were in possession of all the Cybertravel data as they contacted people offering to get their money back. Many dissatisfied people.

They operate Thornton Ridge Land Developments Limited which used to be Nationwide Land Estates Limited. This works the "land bank" thing. They buy farmland cheap, usually green belt and certainly adjacent to a town. They then sell it off in house plots at a huge profit, having convinced the punters that they will make a fortune when the land is re-zoned for housing - but carefully saying that there is no guarantee. A lot of councils have stated that these speculative schemes have no chance whatever of making money.

I would not leave these people alone with the petty cash.

[FastLemon]

Fred2 - Many thanks for that update and the warning. Thornton Ridge and Partners have now sent us various forms including a Power of Attourney Authorisation Form which we are supposed to sign and return.
I will certainly not do so thanks to your helpful advice.
Regards... FastLemon

[Fred 2]

A Power of Attorney is a very powerful instrument and potentially dangerous and should never be given to anyone not known to you personally such as a member of the family or a family solicitor. While I am not surprised that they should try it on I am surprised that anyone should be expected to fall for it.

[matelot]

I, too, have been contacted by Thornton Ridge & Partners. No business phone number in bt directory, not listed at companies house (but NAtionwide Land estates is)
They want a limited power of attoourney to try to get back some of my cyber travel money.
Anyone else been approached, please?

[Fred 2]

There was a limited company Thornton Ridge Limited - it lasted for three years and was struck off without having filed an Annual Return or any accounts. Easier to operate as a partnership - you never have to put anything into the public domain. The gentleman who was the sole director is currently listed as the director of six active companies and five dissolved. A man of the same name and with the same birth date is also listed at Companies House as having been the director of one company, now dissolved. It 'may well be' the same individual. His address is given as Tenerife.

He is a director of Thornton Ridge Land Developments Ltd and of Nationwide Land Developments Ltd - see above.

I would not wish Thornton Ridge to handle any business for me and I would not give a Power of Attorney to anyone I did not know personally and very well indeed.