&

The ampersand used to be consider the 27th letter of the latin alphabet...

i.e. ex, why, zed, "and - per say - and"... I.e. "and" was a letter after zed (Z).

Then came XML and HTML.

As a company with and ampersand in the official actual company name this has been, shall we say, challenging.

We had serious issues with BT XML order integration for some time.

But more lately.

Nominet say things like this...

    Registrar:

        Andrews & Arnold Limited [Tag = AAISP]

        URL: https://aa.net.uk

Yeah, that is NOT our company name.

Other examples, in that past, with bank payee verification showing ANDREWS ARNOLD LIMITED, so I created ANDREWS ARNOLD LIMITED registered (company 12972728) to complain that a different company was being shown than  us.

Now, for Nominet, I decided why not register ANDREWS & ARNOLD LIMITED. Then complain they are using a different company in whois...

To be honest I should have just renamed 12972728, but have done it now as separate company.

Firstly Companies House did not consider an 05555 phone number valid. Hmmm. But I did a different number, and applied for the company.

Now I get an email. An email to my x@x.xx format email address to tell me that my email address is invalid...

Yes, read that again. It is a kind of SPECIAL!

I called them, and well, the person I spoke to kind of appreciated the irony here. Emailing me to tell me my email is invalid, is, well, special.

She said the system was fine but a person, an examiner, rejected based on the email address. She has sent a memo to not reject that email. We'll see.

Why can people not simple follow standards, for email addresses, for phone numbers, for everything.

I have applied again. Once I have new company I can then complain to Nominet over whois.

And again rejected. Another weird one is when logging in to gov gateway using x@x.xx format address they say they are emailed a code to xx@x.xx !!! They actually email x@x.xx address, but why double the first letter when shown on screen... Hang on, I get the show first...last letter and a one letter address confuses the hell out of that. That makes more sense, but is still stupid.

Oh, there is more! The email from Companies house was wrong. It stripped & to &. Wow. How is this hard in this day and age?!

Companies House ID checks

Apparently this petition is confusing a few people. So trying to explain.

At the simplest level Companies House have to ID people now - directors and persons with significant control (PSC). This seems not that unreasonable to be honest.

ID means somehow proving a real ID, and that has a lot of issues - but they have some government ID app, or you can take ID to a post office or some such. The actual ID process is not the issue, and having to have a proper ID to be a director or PSC is not that daft - Companies House have always published the identity of people behind companies. These days there is more privacy over things like actual date of birth and home address, thankfully. But the names of company directors and PSC are a matter of public record.

So the new system means proved ID for director or PSC. Simples. You would think.

But no!

The reason for the petition, and my concern is simple.

My wife is PSC for our company. No problem. We know next return is June. So no action, surely?

Companies House have a deadline for proving her ID, and the confusion here is that is not the same as the annual return and the deadline for me to prove my ID as director. So we did not expect it to be an issue.

Turns out the deadline for proving ID for PSC is 14th of month of birth, so for her, last December.

Well, Companies House could have let her know - but they CHOSE NOT TO. Instead they waiting until the deadline was past and then sent her a letter basically saying she was now a CRIMINAL.

The letter was actually very very badly worded, and it seems that doing the ID process promptly and before end of December was enough to shut them up, thankfully. But from what I can see my wife is technically a criminal for not having met the deadline.

Someone else I know nearly had their bank accounts frozen over this even.

Of course, I was a tad panicked, and so wanted to sort my ID at companies house.

There is a snag.

I can't.

This it what the petition is about.

The stupidity.

I have to wait. I cannot prove my ID now!

I have to wait (1) until 1st of month of my birthday as PSC for some other company. And (2) July for many other companies for which I am director and PSC.

I have done my ID as a PSC now, but not as director, so I have to do again, and I cannot do that now. I cannot do in one go. I cannot do BEFORE the 14 day window.

I fully understand a legal deadline.

I do not understand an startline.

I do not understand why I cannot prove my ID now, and be done with it.

The only possible reason it to catch people out and make them unwilling criminals.

FFS 14 days! People have holidays. People can be off sick.

That is what the petition is about.

Christmas hassle

A new rant, again as a video...

It seems Companies House are more of a pain in the arse than I realised. Not just new ID crap on "confirmation statement" but also for anyone that is a PSC and not a director on anything company it is 14 days from start of month of birthday. Worse, it is not a deadline, it is a 14 day window - you cannot confirm ID now, you have to wait for the right moment, FFS. Why?

But also hassle with Wex and Royal Mail and Amazon (again).