Vance Miller

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Vance Miller

Born	1965 Rochdale
Occupation	Serial Entrepreneur
Children	1, Kent

Vance Miller is an entrepreneur born 1965 in Rochdale, Lancashire, England.^{[citation needed]}

Miller has been referred to in the media as The Kitchen Gangster^[1] for his reputation as a rogue kitchen trader, and due to the success of his companies claims to have played a part in the downfall of the MFI Furniture Group.^[2]

1 Biography
2 Problems With Trading Standards
3 Alleged kidnapping
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Miller is the executive director of Maple Industries, and of Kitchens - which operate from Maple Mill ^[3] (the largest former cotton mill in the north of England, which Miller owns)^{[citation needed]}, Cardwell Street, in Hathershaw, Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Miller, a successful businessman who employs over 1,100 people around the world, is the second largest private employer in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. He has a chequered history involving several brushes with UK law and in 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 the undertaking to employ business efficiency consultants.^[4] In 2002 the Office of Fair Trading instigated the ‘Stop Now’ order and he became the first person in Britain to be handed one after supplying a kitchen which was not sold as advertised. ^[5] In a subsequent legal case also regarding the supply of a kitchen which was not as advertised, the judge found in favour of Mr Miller and threw out the case brought by Oldham Trading Standards.

Miller is currently banned from being the director of any company in the United Kingdom until 2014. ^[6] However, he still runs the company "Kitchens" as private trader. When he reverted to being a sole trader, the council removed his license to operate heavy goods vehicles. Mr Miller responded by purchasing a fleet of 60 vans which do not need such a license. In response to this, Oldham Trading Standards set-up a weigh-station outside Maple Mill and weighed all outgoing vehicles for two weeks, the reason for this was unclear. The local council have recently completed the purchases of Belgrave Mill and Earl Mill, which sit next to Maple Mill. The mills was purchased by the council through the use of a compulsory purchase orders.

In 2006 his home in Ramsbottom was attacked twice in arson attacks and his empty house ^[7] near Ripponden, West Yorkshire, was ruined in a fire.

Despite appearing several times on the BBC TV series Watchdog and branded a rogue trader, his companies reputedly achieve an annual turnover of over £20million ^[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,^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2007, the magazine Real Business printed an article and interview with Vance Miller written by Charles Orton-Jones, covering his business history and current activities in some depth. ^[9]

[edit] Problems With Trading Standards

In 2006 the Greater Manchester Police and Trading Standards raided two residential properties, one belonging to Mr Miller, as well as the company's Maple Mill offices and factory. As a result of the raids four people, including Miller, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud in what was one of Tradings Standards' biggest ever operations ^[10]. The company was able to continue trading despite Trading Standards seizing property in a bid to create a case against the company.

On 21 February 2007, under the General Product Safety Regulations Act 2005, Trading Standards Officers in Oldham ordered Vance Miller, again trading from Maple Mill, to immediately withdraw four types of minibikes from sale. The products failed national safety provisions. ^[11]

On 28 May 2008, Vance Miller was issued a six month suspended sentence and a £90,000 fine by the Manchester Crown Court in relation to an alleged breach of the Stop Now legislation brought against him in 2003. The judge presiding over the case, however, has noted that "there was evidence of `a significant and continuing reduction in complaints' against Miller's business since the summer of 2007." The judge noted that since the Office of Fair Trading was unable to provide any evidence of breaches since early 2006 then Miller was to be sentenced on the assumption that no breaches had taken place since then. ^[12]

[edit] Alleged kidnapping

On 24 May 2007 the Manchester Evening News reported that Vance Miller was on the run in China after evading police officers who had called at his Oldham Mill in order to arrest him over an alleged kidnap. ^[13] Coincidentally, a few days later, on 28 May 2007, Channel 4 screened a documentary that followed Miller and two other British entrepreneurs doing business in China. ^[14]