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Plumbers in the capital are preparing for battle, with London's biggest private firm accusing a rival of trying to steal famous clients including Keira Knightley and Hugh Grant.
Pimlico Plumbers has launched a £1 million legal claim against Service Corps, alleging industrial
espionage and the tappingup of its staff.
The stage is ready for a High Court showdown between selfmade millionaire Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, and former Australian news presenter Steve Cosser, who set up Service Corps as a competitor to target the sinks and U-bends of the rich and famous.
Service Corps may be asked to prove it did not steal confidential files to lure Pimlico's clients, who have also included Daniel Craig, Dame Helen Mirren, Liam Gallagher, Jonathan Ross, Joanna Lumley, Tamara Beckwith, Eric Clapton and Chelsea football players.
Michael Winner has written of leaving Pimlico Plumbers for Service Corps in his Sunday Times column.
Mr Mullins, 57, who has appeared on Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire, left school at 15 to start a plumbing apprenticeship.
He founded his business in 1979 and has a turnover of £15 million with annual profits of £2 million.
With his company's fleet of blue-and-white vans, he has 120 smartly uniformed engineers on call 24 hours a day across the capital, charging £80 an hour for a call-out.
Service Corps has taken on about 14 of Mr Mullins's former employees.
In the High Court writ, filed by law firm Mischon de Reya acting for Mr Mullins, Service Corps is accused of approaching Pimlico staff to persuade them to breach their contracts and
defect to a rival.
Service Corps computers have been seized under a court order and examined for evidence of claims that departing staff took instruction manuals and
Pimlico's client database, which has more than 50,000 names.
Mr Mullins said: “I take very seriously any attempt to take from me the fruits of more than 30 years of sweat and hard work.
“I have taken this to the High Court because I consider the actions of Service Corps and its directors to be underhanded and illegal in the extreme.
“I feel extremely strongly about this and I will not let the matter drop until due compensation is made to the company by those I feel are responsible.
“This is not about the money, it's the principle of the matter, and if the court finds in our favour, as I'm confident it will, I have decided to donate a lump sum to the charities I worked with on the Secret Millionaire programme.”
Service Corps declined to comment.
The men fighting for London's u-bends
Charlie Mullins, 57, grew up in a Camden boarding house sharing a room with his three brothers. His father was a factory worker and his mother a cleaner. He skipped school at the age of nine to help out a plumber,for two shillings a day, and now draws a £1 million-plus salary. His son Scott, 36, is the company's control manager while younger son Samm, 31,
is also a plumber.
Steve Cosser, a former Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio announcer, was a pioneer in pay television — subscription-based channels — in his homeland before moving to London. He was chief executive of TV network Channel 10, then chairman of broadband internet provider Unwired, resigning in 2007. He is reported to hold a 50 per cent
stake in Service Corps.
Reader views (8)
They tried to charge me £80 just for providing a quote. Hence all the shiny new vans with the fancy number plates.
- Dc, London, 05/11/2009 11:27
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£80 an hour! 90% of domestic plumbing is common sense and a few leaflets in B & Q. No wonder the sharks (sorry, competition-driven entrepreneurs) are circling this market
- Mdj E10, london uk, 04/11/2009 22:44
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Pimlico Plumbers once told me I needed a new boiler when all I needed was a thermocoupling unit worth less than £5.
- James, London, England, 04/11/2009 15:54
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I guess this plumber is going round the bend......I hope he dont hit a sharp ubend..and miss a cis turn..Or hit a stop cock..He will have to keep his documents hidden...or a leak might start....He might have to look for a copper in his pipe.....
- Man Of Truth, London, 04/11/2009 13:02
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me thinks there is some publicity seeking here....clearly Pimlico like to be in the media.
celebrity clients for plumbers - get real....who cares who fixes the toilet - you just want it done.....
- Martin_Clerkenwell, london, 04/11/2009 12:18
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used pimlico once never again
- Terry Chambers, London, 04/11/2009 11:27
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I did hear that the plumbing business in Bath was going down the pan putting the business in a state of flux after completing work for Tappest monks The plumbers are soldering on, apparently, but were described as a right shower by an old boiler .
A plumber smoking a pipe met his waterloo when he lost his business float in a kitchen sink drama. This drained his resources putting the business down the sewer and the plumber in the gutter
Apparently a youth wearing drainpipe trousers and smoking an elbow joint gave a plumber a tap on the head outside a sink estate, mugging him for his drain fair, apparently he was flushed with success.
I think that gets all of the plumbing cracks out of the cistern
- James, City of London, 04/11/2009 10:09
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Not hard to pick a side in this fight is it? Obvious gag but very true.
- Becky, London, 04/11/2009 09:35
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