articles tagged with london

Fun with Banks

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I’m not really one to rant, but my efforts over the last month or so, opening a new business bank account, have not gone as smoothly as they could have. Some of the highlights of my experience include;

Being told one thing on the phone about providing the appropriate identification and proof of address – only to arrive with these documents and then be told that a utility bill is all that is required. Which is easier said than done when you’ve just moved to London and only been there 2 days.

On arriving at the bank, suited and booted ready to talk about my business plan and company, a serious question arises? Since the company was registered in N. Ireland – was N. Ireland part of the UK? even if it is – can the bank open a business account for a company that isn’t on the mainland ?

It turns out that in order to resolve these issues; the bank must make a call to their support centre in India. That’s right, India… Only after the helpful call agent had questioned us on whether N. Ireland was/wasn’t on the UN. sanctioned countries list – with Syria, Iraq and N. Korea – could we proceed.

Days pass as I wait for a utility bill to prove my new house address in London, weeks go by, and nothing can be done with the account. I finally get it and send it to them and what happens? They open the account, cheque book, debit card, pin etc. and mail it all in several different packs to Companies House in Belfast, N. Ireland ! Thanks to the postal strike in Belfast they were not able to forward anything back to me, or even confirm they had all the letters. Solution – cancel everything and send to the correct address in London.

Well the rant is over, I’ll not go naming and shaming here, but the Bank under scrutiny is a well know high street firm.

February 17, 2006 03:47 by

The Move

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Well, im sure a lot of you have heard already, but in just over 4 days last week I have;

  • Left Belfast, and moved to London
  • Finished setting up my own company Hiddenloop Ltd.
  • Started a new full-time contract as Technical Project Manager with the BBC, working 2 days
  • Drove back to Belfast, (via Stranraer) leaving my car back in N.Ireland
  • Flown back to London on the 8th
  • Got very little sleep

So im here now, and in probably one of the busiest weeks of my life, I seemed to have landed on my feet, moving into a great shared house within 15mins walking distance to White City and 5 mins from East Acton Underground.

As a rule, I wont be blogging about my job at the BBC, all I can say is that I have joined as a Technical Project Manager for initially 6 months, on a high(ish) profile project that is due to launch soon. Having been here just 4 days now, things are going well so far.

Forming a company was something I’ve had in mind for a while, taking on more and more contract work. Hiddenloop (and this website) are going through a complete redesign over the next couple of months. So more information will be available soon on what Hiddenloop will do as a company etc.

Who knows what will happen, its entirely possible I will be back in full-time employment by the end of this year – the point is that I am giving this a go. Listening to the Venture Voice Podcasts has been great encouragement, and prove that with some hard work, a bit of talent and a good idea – small people can make it big – (but not too big)

RyanC from 37Signals has also got a great series of articles on the challenges of setting up a new small business.

London seems great so far, its a big change from living in Belfast for the last seven years, there are some great web agencies over here (no dis-respect). And while rent is expensive, being able to walk to work really helps. I have a brother and sister over here as well, which is dead handy for figuring out where things are etc.

No doubt I’ll be posting here more frequently now, so stay tuned, who knows what will happen …

January 10, 2006 07:01 by
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