VOC MANAGEMENT PERSECUTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS

VOC MANAGEMENT CASE "SUMARY" [SIC]

Prior to the 169th General Committee Meeting of the Vincent HRD Owners Club in Coventry on September 5th 2010, VOC Honorary Secretary Andrew Everett circulated a twenty-five document to members of the VOC's General Committee. The allegations against Charlie Cannon and myself in this case "sumary" [sic] by Honorary Secretary of the VOC are, as Everett himself was forced to admit on several occasions, without foundation, as I propose to demonstrate over time. 

The GCM minutes recorded the following remarks by Mr Everett: “The Hon. Secretary reported that it was clear from documentation copied to him, that HMRC had decided that the disposal of assets was irregular and they were therefore investigating if it was a deliberate evasion of tax. All parties directly affected/involved were working together for a conclusion and the club had no authority in the matter and should not be seen to prejudge Club members in advance of an official ruling.” HM Revenue & Customs have already ruled that the removal and dispersal of assets from the John Lumley Estate was “irregular”. They would not have known about this irregular disposal of assets had it not been for concerned VOC members who contacted both the executors of the estate and HMRC.

Known and suspected whistleblowers were quickly targeted in various ways by the VOC management and their cronies, as the record shows, including defamatory editorials and diatribes in the club’s magazine and on its website, letters to the executors and scurrilous internet blogs, including the http://johnlumleyscandal.blogspot.com/ attack blog set up, according to sources close to the VOC management, by VOC Executive Committee member Graham Smith with help from club official Arthur Farrow, who denied any involvement in the removal and break-up of the John Lumley collection during a telephone interview but was then unable to explain how his son had ended up with an ex-John Lumley motorcycle. Smith also runs the VOC monthly magazine MPH and the club's internet website and forum.

As in the case of Charlie Cannon and myself, the VOC management has also called for the expulsion of other whistleblowers from the club on trumped-up charges of bringing the VOC into disrepute and prejudicing the reputations of certain officials and members. However, the same management has made no moves against the officials and members whose irregular disposal of assets from the John Lumley Estate led to what VOC President Bryan "The Führer" Phillips has publicly described as "the worst crisis the club has faced in over fifty years". However, the VOC management feels that the VOC “should not be seen to prejudge Club members in advance of an official ruling.”, except in the case of the whistleblowers, of course.

PK