AN Alderley Edge woman's 'dreadful' stairlift business left elderly customers thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Belinda Rogers, of Devonshire Drive, took huge deposits from customers as old as 96 before failing to deliver stairlifts or installing faulty products.

Her Britannia Homelifts office in Congleton advertised nationwide before its collapse in 2018, with Cheshire East Council's trading standards team joining forces with others across the country to bring her before the courts.

The case represents one of the most distressing cases the council’s trading standards team has had to investigate, with a judge saying she displayed ‘dreadful’ business incompetence, had caused financial distress to her customers, had let old people down and demonstrated a litany of failures.

Chester Crown Court was told of eight instances where customers had paid substantial deposits – from £7,000 to £13,500 – for stairlifts and through-the-floor domestic lifts intended to assist people with mobility difficulties.

Some lifts were not delivered, while the rest developed faults and were not fit for purpose.

One 96-year-old, who lost £11,000, had a hole cut in his floor but waited 18 weeks for his lift only to learn the business had gone bust.

When another elderly customer refused to pay the balance until repairs were made, the company instead deactivated his lift creating a fire hazard.

An elderly woman – who paid a £8,000 deposit – was left with a hole in her floor for two months and never received her lift or a refund. She had to sleep downstairs.

Another elderly woman paid £6,365 but the lift installed had no stop mechanism and she suffered falls from the equipment as a result. She was also forced to sleep downstairs for five months, suffering ‘significant’ impact on her health and wellbeing.

Although three customers were reimbursed via their credit card chargeback scheme, others lost substantial sums when the company went into liquidation.

Rogers said the day-to-day running of the business was delegated to staff and she relied on her managers, saying staff had not followed procedures.

Frank Jordan, acting executive director of place at CEC, said: “This was a lengthy, and at times, distressing investigation by our trading standards officers and I wish to thank them for bringing this case to court and ending the highly irregular and insensitive business practices of this company.

Knutsford Guardian:

Frank Jordan

“The council would also wish to express its sympathy for these elderly, vulnerable adults who have lost huge sums of money as a result of the incompetence of this individual.”

Mary Nash, daughter of Dr John and Rosemary Gittus, from Alcester, Warwickshire, said: “My father died early this year, aged 87.

"He never recovered from the distress this had caused him. It has been desperately distressing and all the people affected by this have been elderly and vulnerable people.

“I am eternally grateful to Cheshire East trading standards for the hard work they have carried out to bring this matter to court.”

After pleading guilty to contravening professional diligence, Rogers was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £50,350 in compensation to those she let down.

Additionally, she must pay £500 to customers whose lifts failed to arrive, £7,500 in costs, and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard she would sell property to reimburse all those who lost money.

She is banned from being a company director for 10 years.