On the go: The Pensions Ombudsman will hold an oral hearing against the trustee and administrator of three pension schemes solely invested in a motorcycle manufacturer, as it has received 30 complaints against these individuals.
Dalriada Trustees was appointed by the Pensions Regulator to the schemes in June after a “clear conflict of interest” was found by the Pensions Ombudsman, since all three funds are invested solely in preference shares of Norton Motorcycle Holdings.
Stuart Garner is chief executive and the main shareholder of the motorcycle manufacturing company, and former trustee of the Dominator 2012 Pension Scheme, Commando 2012 Pension Scheme and Donington MC Pension Scheme.
The complaints have been made against Mr Garner, as trustee of the three pension schemes, and, where applicable, against LD Administration in its capacity as administrator from 2014 to 2018.
The hearing, which will be held in public, will take place on February 13 in London.
Pensions Expert reported in November that Dalriada trustees is currently supporting Norton Motorcycles in its fundraising activities, as this “represents the best chance of the schemes recovering their investments in full and is in the best interests of the members”.
With an amount due to members in excess of £14m, “any attempts to extract funds now from the Norton business, or indeed Mr Garner personally, are not going to generate anything close to that figure”, the company stated at the time.
