Poole plans major Claims Direct expansion

Claims Direct's former chief executive Colin Poole this week told the Gazette that the company will form spin-off derivative companies - for employment law, wills, and general business law - as soon as possible if negotiations to sell his stock to financier Simon Ware-Lane fail.He claimed that he and former chairman Tony Sullman stood down from their posts earlier this year because the other directors did not agree with an urgent timetable for the introduction of these measures.But a source close to the company said this was an 'interesting interpretation of events', adding that at the time the pair stood down there were questions over the way they were running the company.Mr Poole also claimed that the embattled company's independent directors had reneged on assurances that they would not be hostile to the pair's offer to buy the company back.Mr Poole said the pair indicated to the directors that the bid would be about ten pence per share, and the directors told them they would not oppose it, even if they would not recommend it.But the Claims Direct source said 'no clear impression was given [by Mr Poole] that the price would be so low'.Despite now having technically won the takeover with 55% of the shares, Mr Poole said he and Mr Sullman accepted that their reputations 'may not be the greatest in the City at the moment', and 'it would be in the company's best interests for us to leave'.Current negotiations with City tycoon Simon Ware-Lane to sell their shares are understood to be close to completion.If the pair remain, it is considered most unlikely that the independent directors will stay with the company.Of his future plans, Mr Poole said: 'Who knows what tomorrow may bring?' Of the barrage of tabloid press interest that he and his colleague have attracted over the last six months, he added: 'It would be nice if someone wrote something nice about us for a change.'Jeremy Fleming