Vance Miller

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Vance Miller is a controvertial entrepreneur born c.1965 in Oldham, Lancashire, England.

He is the former executive director of Maple Industries Ltd, and former director of Kitchens Direct (now known as Kitchens) - which operate from Maple Mill, (a former cotton mill which Miller owns) Caldwell Street, in Hathershaw, Oldham, Greater Manchester.

He has been referred to in the media as The Kitchen Gangster^[1] and is also believed to have played a part (due to the success of his companies) in the downfall of the MFI Furniture Group.^[2]

Miller, a successful businessman who employs over 200 people and is one of the biggest private employers in Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, has a chequered history involving several brushes with the Law in the UK and other countries. Defending himself without lawyers, he was called “intelligent, cunning, manipulative but above all arrogant” by a Manchester judge who jailed him for contempt of court when he failed to improve operations at his Oldham-based company, Maple Industries. He was released 2 weeks later on an undertaking to employ business efficiency consultants.^[3] In 2002 he became the first person in Britain to be handed a ‘Stop Now’ order by the Office of Fair Trading after supplying kitchens that were not sold as advertised,^[4]

Miller is currently banned from being the director of any company in the United Kingdom until 2014.^[5]

In 2006 his home in Ramsbottom was attacked twice in arson attacks and his empty house ^[6] near Ripponden, West Yorkshire, was burned down.

Despite appearing several times on the BBC TV series Watchdog and branded a rogue trader, his companies currently achieve an annual turnover of over £50million,^[7] and to his workforce, Miller is considered a hero.^[8]

He says that in spite of "exaggerated" reporting of complaints by "a tiny minority" of customers, the quality of his cut-price kitchens is demonstrably good enough to have humbled the MFI business, once valued at a billion pounds and in his most recent television appearance, Mr Miller told the nation he would deal with each and every complaint personally. Watchdog confirmed that complaints are being addressed.

[edit] Operation Church

As part of a Greater Manchester Police operation by the name of Church, four people including Miller, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud after Maple Mill was raided in what was Trading Standards' biggest ever operation. ^[9]

More than 130 Officers stormed the premises of Kitchens at Maple Mill, as well as residential addresses in Ramsbottom and Milnrow.

[edit] References and notes

^ The Kitchen Gangster, BBC Press Office, December 22, 2003. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ www.vance-miller.com. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ Customs seize £66k from Miller as he boards China flight, Oldham Advertiser, April 14, 2006. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ Rogue trader is under fire, Oldham Advertiser, August 23, 2006. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ Fitted Kitchen Supplier Accepts Nine Year Disqualification, Government News Network, June 15, 2005. URL accessed November 2006.
^ Gangster link at arson farm, Halifax Today, August 17, 2006. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ Kitchens, BBC News, October 10, 2006. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ The Kitchen Gangster, BBC Press Office, December 22, 2003. URL accessed November 6, 2006.
^ 130 police in raid on Britain's 'worst rogue trader' kitchen supplier, Narain, J., Daily Mail, November 30, 2006. URL accessed December 4, 2006.