Austrian Alpine Club (UK) Ltd

Personal Culpability for IPT and Audit Evasion

This web-page describes the history of the current stand-off between me and Mike Garrett. At no time since late 2017 has there been any communication between us relating to either tax evasion or audit evasion, either face-to-face, my mail, by email or by phone.


The Prelude

I started alpinism in 1962 during 2 weeks of training by Austrian guides in the Ötztal, during which I bagged 7 of Austria’s 10 highest summits. In the following summer I enjoyed a 2 week consolidation training course in the Sonnblick/ Grossglocker region, which added 2 more of Austria’s 10 highest summits, leaving only the Grosvenediger to complete my tally of all of Austria's highest 10. After a gap of 49 years, I joined Mike Garrett’s hut tour of the Venediger in 2012, principally to climb the Grosvenediger. When Mike had to back out of attending, I gladly accepted his kind invitation to take over the leadership role, which as an accomplished alpine leader with almost half a century of regular experience, including relegating Mont Blanc to become merely the 13th highest summit I had led an unguided party up, (the 12 higher ones being in the Greater Ranges), was easy, and which enabled me to complete my tally of the 10 highest tops in Austria.


Our excellent relationship unfortunately changed in 2017

In an email to (the then Chairman) Mike Garrett in early 2017, I politely questioned him about the Club's incorporation on the 11th of September 2015 behind the backs of the members in contravention of both our Constitution and the legal requirements laid down by Companies House. Mike angrily denied the evidence but made no attempt to disprove it, untruthfully flannelling that we had incorporated a year later, and that Companies House had got it wrong, thereby successfully destroying his credibility.

This was an 'Own-Goal', since it led to my investigation of everything else the Club did, which for a retired successful (self-employed personally-VAT-registered) management consultant was very easy. It quickly became apparent that the Club was evading the legal requirement to remit Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) to HMRC on all subscriptions received from members resident in the UK, as well as the legal requirement for all Companies marketing insurance products to have their accounts annually audited. I drew these to the attention of Chairman Mike in late 2017, but he hotly denied the claims of illegality and refused to challenge the evidence, sinking his credibility still further into the mire. Had he thought the evidence even possibly untrue he would surely not have missed such a heaven-sent opportunity to ridicule me for being wrong. His failure to do so suggests that he must have been already well-aware of our Club’s tax evasion. His actions have lost him all credibility.

The best course of action seemed to be for me to join the Board in order to take up these issues with the Directors privately, so I was elected to the Board at the 7th October 2017 AGM. At my first (and only) Board meeting on the 24th March 2018, the Directors had obviously been pre-briefed with lies by Mike, since they unanimously and very crossly rounded on me for holding unacceptable views, forcing my immediate resignation.

Had Mike thought that he could challenge and overturn the evidence, he would most certainly have done so, forcing me to apologetically withdraw it. Since he knew that he stood no chance of winning the argument, he set out to destroy my reputation in the eyes of the members, hoping to drive me out of the Club. This was tantamount to an open admission that he knew I was right. We retired Senior Military Officers always stand up to bullying and refuse to be intimidated. I am digging my heels in. Furthermore, if I ever did remove this evidence it woud be taken as an admission that it was unsound, which is very definitely not the case. It stays here indefinitely.


Firstly

Mike published to our membership behind my back a whole string of lies about my proposed resolutions made at the 2019 AGM, where he refused to allow any challenge to them, so the members believed them. Here is some solid evidence from our 2019 AGM, randomly picking just one example, namely Mike's published case against my proposed resolution to add Phil Nixon's compilations of Photo Competition entries to our website, and taking each of his counterarguments in turn:

  1. It was a lie to claim that publishing all entries on our website would add any extra workload on our Office at all, since the folders had been completed long beforehand and I had them in my pocket at the AGM on a USB Memory Stick; there was no need for any Office involvement, at all;
  2. It was a lie to claim that it would take up any disk space at all, since it would reside on the Cloud, free of charge, never on any disks. I know this for a fact, since I uploaded it here on the Cloud, long before the 2019 AGM, to prove that all was well;
  3. It was a lie to claim that this photo archive has been 'developed' by me, since it needed no 'development' at all, comprising merely a sequential compilation of photos with titles, supplied to me by Phil Nixon, loaded in alphabetical order within each defined entry category, within each of the 3 years, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and subsequently reviewed by Phil Nixon, without any editorial involvement from me at all. [Phil was subsequently directed by 'management' not to co-operate with me any further by allowing any other years to be added.]
  4. It was a lie to claim that members would not wish to access it, since as soon as one does so, one is immediately captivated by the high quality and sparkling resolution of the many breathtakingly beautiful full-screen-width high-definition photos it includes. Please reflect on the obvious truism that no member would submit an entry to the photo competition unless it was a good one. It is a treat genuinely not to be missed. Open the Photo Archive and see for yourself.
  5. It was a lie to claim that either WordPress or our office workload would have any relevance at all, since neither are affected.

This is just one random example of the blatant lies published behind my back to the membership before the AGM about each of my proposed resolutions. Since Chairman Mike denied me any opportunity to challenge and overturn these lies at the meeting, I was left with no alternative but to withdraw the proposed resolutions, in a triumph of autocracy over democracy.

An inevitable consequence was that since the members at the 2019 AGM were denied hearing Chairman Mike's lies repudiated, they all believed them, trampling my reputation firmly into the ground, and thus meeting Mike's key objective.


Secondly

The meets planning team had fully accepted and approved as an Official Club Meet one that I had proposed and set in motion, and which they happily promoted in our newsletters and on the Club website. Without notice and without a word of explanation, it was subsequently downgraded behind my back, to become merely a "Members' Event Not Organised by the Club", even though it was already fully booked and shortly to take place. No explanation was forthcoming from the UK Meet Coordinator however hard one was sought. This has never happened to anyone else's Official Club Meets. They must have been just following orders from Mike.

The demoted meet was a ramble I organised and coordinated over the 14 Welsh Three Thousands, which was completed in one day in 2019 by 39 AAC(UK) members, split into several groups. I can find no record of any other AAC(UK) serious mountaineering excursions carried out by as many as 39 members, almost certainly making it a club record. It should obviously become a annual event, undoubtedly attracting far more participants than the annual Coniston event. One of the groups wrote this Newsletter Article describing her own group's day.

Once I approached my 80’s, I was forced to give up the challenge of serious mountaineering, so I resorted instead to organizing and supporting popular mountaineering meets for our younger active members, like that described in the preceding paragraph. I am still capable and willing to continue, and I know quite a few excellent mountain choices. There is obviously a strong demand for them to have attracted 39 participants.

Other senior members have started focusing instead on promoting easy meets for fellow ‘has-beens’. Which do you think is in the best long-term interests of our Club?


Thirdly

When my later meet proposals were emailed to the Club Office, as requested in the Club Website, the Office confirmed to me by email that they had forwarded them to the relevant meet planning official. Since no such official would fail to open and read emails from our own Office, they cannot have inadvertently ended up in their junk email folder. However, they were never even acknowledged, ensuring that the proposed events were successfully prevented, presumably because Mike did not want me to have any further involvement with the Club, supporting his requirement to drive me out for drawing attention to his deliberate criminality, which, when HMRC catches up with us, will drive our Club to certain bankruptcy and closure and Mike to probable imprisonment.

Fourthly

In August 2024 the AAC Office stopped responding to any communications from me, presumably acting under orders. Later in August, I discovered that the same (in)action was being taken regarding emails to Newsletter Editor Peter Finch. By early September I discovered that this also applied to emails sent to Chairman Diana Rayner, so presumable it now applies to all Directors.




Make of these Government Edicts what you will

"If a PLC has any taxable income or profits, it must tell HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that it exists and is liable to Corporation Tax. It must then pay any Corporation Tax that's due and submit a Company Tax Return to HMRC. A PLC must also comply with HMRC's requirements for PAYE for employers and VAT." (We employ staff in our Office and we sell items commercially).

"Company directors must complete a Self-Assessment tax return each year."




A Late Thought added 24th September 2024

As soon as HMRC catches up with the Club, I would expect them to freeze our bank accounts, successfully preventing us from subsequently making A Very Generous Donation to the ÖAV before we are bankrupted. Think about it!




Here is a word of warning to our Board of Directors.

It will surely only be a matter of time before prosecutions ensue. If our Directors were to side with Mike in demanding that this wealth of evidence be destroyed, they would inevitably join Mike in the firing line for prosecution.

Who has the moral right to condemn an innocent whistle blower and exonerate criminals?

To quote from the HMRC website: "HMRC tax evasion penalties can range from a fine of up to £20,000 or up to 6 months in prison. Cases meeting Crown court standard can result in a jail term of up to seven years and/or unlimited fine."

The proof that our Board of Directors are choosing to turn a blind eye to all of this evidence is clearly documented in the Email Correspondence between me and Chairman Diana Rayner.


To show their gratitude to him, the Board rewarded Mike with Life Membership.

Our Articles of Association state that: “Honorary Membership may be awarded by resolution of the members at an AGM,” but they make no reference to Life Membership, not that there is any significant difference between the terms. But so what? Our Managers always autocratically do whatever they want to do.



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