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Rogue Trader Warning.
Hi folks I’d like to warn the people of Whitburn, and West Lothian in general, about a scurrilous and dishonest supposed tradesman. It is now one year since my wife and I were swindled out of £1,500 by IAN MCLAREN from Whitburn. My wife is in her 70’s and has Alzheimer’s and I am registered blind and disabled. We had this fantasist to paint the outside of our house when we were on the other side of the world visiting relatives.
McLaren told us all about his company and his employees and that the work would be done while we were away. He was paid when he contacted us asking for payment but when we got home none of the work had been done. He told us numerous lies about what had been done and when but he was too stupid to realise we had cctv cameras around our home so we had a record of him not visiting when he said he did.
I have a record of all of his lies in messaging. He was given a choice to complete the job or refund us our money. He did neither. We sought advice from the police, they said it was a civil matter and we should sue him, so we did. We got a court order enforcing payment in full plus our expenses and legal fees. He ignored the court order so we got sheriff officers to track him down for enforcement.
When the officers called to his house he said that he was unemployed, had no money and no bank account, he told them he was living in the care of his mum, despite his poor mum being dead for ten years. The day after he stole our money he took his fiancé and children toTurkey on holiday where they engaged a professional photographer for family photos.
About six weeks later he got married and posted wedding photos of him and his guests.
He has blocked all contact from us and has made no attempt to repay any of the money he is morally and legally obliged to pay us. We also contacted the West Lothian Courier in the hope that they would expose him and thereby protect decent people from him, they have shown no interest in this story.
This man is a fantasist and thoroughly dishonest crook and I would urge anyone not to engage him for any kind of work.
IAN MCLAREN from Whitburn will rob vulnerable old folks and sleep well at night. Please do not allow this horror of an individual to steal money from you or your aged parents.
