A BLACKBURN businessman is warning others to be wary of a company who claimed to help him bid for Euro cash.

He contacted the Citizen after Manchester-based advisers Tyler Barratt and Co said they could help him claim £50,000 in European grants for a registration fee of £395 - plus a 10 per cent cut of the cash.

But he became suspicious when he discovered the company had been banned from advertising after their offices - in Leeds, Manchester and London - were raided by the Official Receiver.

Despite Tyler Barratt and Co's claims that they had helped a number of companies and charities receive millions of pounds in grants or loans, the Trade Department said there was no evidence to suggest that any of their clients had been successful in obtaining grants.

The Department of Trade will now try to wind the company up at a hearing on August 13 and is asking for creditors to come forward and give details of their transactions.

The Blackburn businessman said: "I was contacted by someone called Debbie, from Tyler Barratt and Co, who told me £400,000,000 of European grants was available to companies like my own.

"I was interested because I had just ordered improvements costing £50,000. But the literature she faxed me about the company was so badly prepared that alarm bells started ringing.

"I declined the offer and later discovered that there was no evidence that they had helped any company receive European grants and that none of them had been refunded - which was one of the reassurances she gave me."

John Bridgeman, director general of Fair Trading, applied to the courts to prevent Tyler Barratt and Co advertising or making visits.

He said: "Misleading grants advisers seem to be among the most popular scams at the moment."

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