A charity is among victims of a publisher who took £74,000 for adverts that never appeared in its magazine and sent invoices for work that had not been agreed to.

The charity agreed to a single advert with Sage Media National Limited, which had a contract to produce and distribute a magazine called Copperwheel on behalf of the West Midlands Police Motor Club.

But the charity was invoiced for a further two further adverts that they had not agreed to. This invoice was paid from a volunteer’s personal funds.

The details have emerged in the decision announced by the Insolvency Service to hand an 11-year ban to the publisher’s sole director Alan Peterson, 60, from Liverpool.

Under the ban Peterson is banned from "directly, or indirectly, becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court", said the Insolvency Service.

The magazine was published twice a year, but concerns were raised over advertising sales techniques being deployed by Sage Media National.

“Sage Media National Limited consistently misinformed and abused their clients,” said the Insolvency Service.

“The magazine publisher used aggressive sales techniques, invoiced clients for advertising services they did not order, deluded clients into thinking the magazine had a substantial subscription list, and misled clients by suggesting it was affiliated with the emergency services.”

It emerged that the publisher secured £74,000 from clients for adverts that it failed to publish in specific editions or at all.

The Service is also concerned around the “legitimacy of several of the company’s activities”, including why the company transferred £32,000 to Peterson’s personal account.

Insolvency Service deputy chief investigator Karen Maxwell added: “Sage Media National Limited unscrupulously targeted companies using aggressive sales tactics to advertise in a magazine that didn’t have the reach or associations that it falsely claimed to have.

“As sole director of the magazine publisher, Alan Peterson was ultimately responsible for the company’s objectionable tactics and abusing clients of thousands of pounds.

“11 years is a substantial ban and Alan Peterson has rightly been removed from the corporate arena for a significant amount of time.”

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