Devastated mum has to close popular takeaway over £22k bill that was never hers

Birmingham mum Lolita Hudson, who owned Caribbean takeaway Popz Kitchen, was forced to adjacent aft an vigor institution mistakenly told her she owed £22,000

A mum's takeaway concern was forced to adjacent aft indebtedness collectors mistakenly demanded £22,000 from her.

Lolita Hudson owns Popz Kitchen successful Birmingham and was near without immoderate signifier of income aft a mix-up from Valda Energy who claimed she owed them the eye-watering magnitude of money. However, it aboriginal emerged she didn't beryllium immoderate wealth astatine each and it was successful information the property's landlord, from whom she was renting, owed the wealth for the gathering arsenic a whole.

When the mother-of-two was archetypal contacted by the institution she was definite it was a scam of immoderate benignant arsenic she was already forking retired £200-a-month and had ne'er missed a payment. However, alarm bells started to ringing erstwhile the Caribbean takeaway unopen successful June and the indebtedness continued to turn to much than £25,000.

Lolita explained: "There's nary much Popz Kitchen and there's inactive this measure hanging implicit my head. It's a batch of wealth to beryllium successful my sanction and it's thing to bash with me. None of it makes sense. Everyone's shocked and upset, each time I person customers phoning oregon messaging me. It's precise difficult. It's been truly upsetting and I've had a breakdown due to the fact that of it. I couldn't spot my mode retired of it."

When contacted by BirminghamLive, Valda Energy yet removed Popz Kitchen from the account, apologised to Ms Hudson and confirmed the outstanding equilibrium was the landlord's responsibility. Sadly, the harm was already done and the erstwhile takeaway was forced to unopen the concern she had opened successful 2021.

Speaking astir the closure, she said: "In June, 2 bailiffs came successful and said determination was a measure of £22,000 and it needed to beryllium paid wrong the adjacent half-hour oregon the metre was going to beryllium chopped off. I'd been determination from 6am cooking, I'd prepared a full paper of nutrient acceptable to merchantability for my time ahead. It was a Wednesday - 1 of my amended days for selling food.

"I showed her the meter, she goes 'oh that doesn't look right, I request to bash immoderate much investigating." After speaking to the landlord, they insisted the measure was successful Popz Kitchen's name, Ms Hudson said.

She went on: "It's successful my sanction and I don't recognize how, I didn't motion thing to accidental I wanted to alteration electrical provider. They've chopped disconnected the electrical and since that time I haven't been capable to trade, that was the extremity of my concern and determination was thing I could bash astir it due to the fact that I don't person £22,000 to wage these radical and it's not my bill."

Contact from Valda Energy began with a fewer emails, but arsenic Ms Hudson was already paying via Metro pre-paid, she said she thought it had to beryllium a scam to "get wealth retired of me". She explained: "They said the measure was £8,000, and I thought 'that's not right.'

"So I asked the landlord. Even helium said: 'It indispensable beryllium a scam, disregard it.' I carried connected with the business, dilatory increasing my baby, it was picking up traction. I had regulars coming from the assemblage each week."

Then she began receiving telephone calls saying the measure needed to beryllium paid. She added: "I was trying to explicate to them it couldn't beryllium excavation due to the fact that I paid to Metro pre-paid. It became borderline harassment. I sent them pictures of my metre and I said: 'This is the meter, it can't beryllium my measure truthful permission maine alone'."

After her energy was unopen disconnected successful June this year, she made complaints to the vigor company, contacted the ombudsman and fraud probe team, but the measure was inactive connected her head. After archetypal contact, Valda Energy said Popz Kitchen had "entered into a declaration for the main vigor supply" with them, though it was not liable for the payment.

A spokeswoman for the institution said: “Popz Kitchen continued to wage its pre-payment metre straight to the landlord, but nary outgo for the main proviso was received by Valda. The lawsuit was referred to the Energy Ombudsman which did not find Valda astatine responsibility successful our completion of the vigor declaration oregon our consequent collections process. It confirmed the landlord is liable for the proviso and the outstanding balance. Popz Kitchen volition present beryllium removed arsenic the liable enactment and the relationship volition beryllium transferred into the landlord’s name."