GOVERNMENT officials plan to shut down a controversial Huddersfield firm.

They have issued petitions to wind up Reband (UK) Ltd – the firm accused of failing to honour promises to secure council tax cuts for thousands of people.

The firm, based in Huddersfield, has already been the subject of a long investigation by trading standards officers.

And the man who runs the company, Jack Darrell Henry, has been convicted by a criminal court of breaching trading rules.

Now the Insolvency Service – part of the Department for Trade and Industry – is taking court action against the Fitzwilliam Street-based firm.

A hearing to wind up the company will be heard in the High Court in Manchester on September 24.

Legal notices about the petition have been posted in the London Gazette.

It has also emerged that the company is behind another similar organisation called Household Claims, which is again offering to get residents’ council tax bills reduced.

Consumer watchdogs have been investigating the Household Claims company and found that while it has a ‘virtual’ online office in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, all correspondence ends up at Fitzwilliam Street.

The investigators have also uncovered details of a staggering 7,000 clients of Reband (UK).

A spokesman for The Insolvency Service said: “Unlike Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service, we cannot take this action as a creditor of the company.

“This company does not owe us money but the Secretary of State for Business has decreed that we should take the winding up action.

“The petition will be heard by a judge in Manchester. If the petition is unopposed then he or she can make an order to wind up the company.

“If is it opposed and there is an appeal, we would expect a date for a full hearing to follow fairly quickly.”

West Yorkshire Trading Standards confirmed their investigations into the company, which began more than two years ago, are still under way.

A spokesman said: “We are continuing to receive complaints about the company and these are being investigated”.

The Manchester hearing will be the latest in a series of legal actions involving the company.

In January Mr Henry escaped a prison sentence after admitting illegal trading with his firm which also used the name Council Tax Review.

In that case, Mr Henry admitted 14 charges in breach of consumer protection regulations and received a nine-month suspended jail term.

Bradford Crown Court was told his business – which submitted claims for Council Tax rebates on behalf of hundreds of householders – was “a whisker away from fraud.”

His barrister, speaking in Mr Henry’s defence, said the problems were as a result of “poor procedures.” The judge accepted that the offences related to a small percentage of the business and also that the prosecution had not alleged any dishonesty.

In March, a judge awarded 12 former employees of the firm more than £30,000 in unpaid wages.

Judge David Burton, sitting at an employment tribunal in Leeds, was told how Mr Henry operated his business.

And the judge told the hearing: “It sounds criminal to me.”

He advised former workers to try to force the company into liquidation in the hope of recouping some of the monies they were owed.

Twelve former employees had lodged tribunal claims for unpaid wages.

They are among many creditors who are trying to recover money from the company.

Calls by the Examiner to Mr Henry’s rented offices in Huddersfield and to his mobile phone for a comment have been unanswered.