News

BCA had a great meeting this morning at Unity Grill in Ayr, the Unity Grill is a Social Restaurant in the heart of Ayrshire where 100% of profits are used to challenge food poverty, 'Eat Well. Do Good.’

IM training spoke to the group and tasked everyone with Health and Safety scenarios which business owners face everyday in various different situations. The talk highlighted gaps we all have in Health and Safety in our workplace and in our procedures. IM training, headed up by Iain Mackay, delivers training throughout Scotland ensuring Businesses and their Employees are Safe, Happy and Healthy at work.

1.Always treat newly-formed firms and new accounts with suspicion, beware of a new client trying to place a large order for their first or second order.

2.There are certain styles of business names long firm fraudsters seem to favour. Beware of the words, Euro, International, Worldwide, Wholesale, Trading and Distribution, please air particular caution to these types of businesses.

3.If the trader has been a long-established company, beware of rapid change in Directorship, Company Secretary etc. These indicate the company has changed ownership, and may have been hijacked by fraudsters to obtain credit.

4.Use a recognised credit reference agency to check the company or individual out in detail. If the company has submitted accounts to Companies House, check the dates match and the firm of accountants who submitted the accounts actually exist.

5.Check with the landlord of the premises and neighbouring businesses to confirm the length of occupancy.

6.Ensure receipt of original paperwork - never accept copies or faxed documents. Do not accept hand-written faxed orders for goods.

7.Ask for Trade References, don't just call the number supplied and ask them to supply you with information. Goggle map the business to check it actually exists and again ask neighbouring businesses how long they have been there for.

8.When following up a Trade Reference ask unusual questions like, Have you worked with this Company at any different addresses? Have they changed their names? How well do you know them? (If the person at the end of the phone is hesitant they are usually working from a script, which wont include questions like this)

9.Check the company has a website, and it looks genuine, there should be no spelling mistakes, and should relate to the business they carry out. If the website looks very basic, carry out more checks.

10.Fraudsters very rarely have company email addresses, they are usually linked to Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail Accounts, if this is the case your suspicions should be aroused straight away.

Massively proud of our members helping fight food poverty in Ayrshire this morning! Giving up their time to help prepare and pack 130 lunches at Unity Grill... UG will distribute these throughout Ayrshire today to children who may not otherwise have anything to eat this bank holiday. Well done guys!

Early morning Team Building project at The Fox & Willow in Ayr assigned to BCA members by McColm Civil & Structural Engineers! Great bonding, sharing ideas, designs and final results by all involved. Happily Neil and his team at McColm's have no worries about new competition or any new engineers discovered this morning !!

Great ‘Behind The Scenes‘ morning at Kestrel Press, seeing how print is done properly! BCA member Graeme Ferguson and Kestrel Company Director showed the members all the printing facilities they have at the Kestrel Press Hq in Irvine. The business has been operating for over 40 years and we met all the experienced staff who know everything about print. Getting to see the presses and printers in operation was well received by the members who now have 1st hand knowledge about Kestrel completing print projects on daily basis for local, national and international clients