Brief
A leading legal firm acting on behalf of an international finance provider requested urgent service of Freezing Orders on three Directors of a foreign national bank at three separate addresses, two in London and one in Manchester. The Orders were available for collection at 5.00pm and were required to be served prior to 8.30pm that same day. The client was able to provide photographs of each of the subjects to assist in identification.
Work Undertaken
The Freezing Orders were collected from the Central London office of our client at 5.00pm and two of our agents immediately set out to serve the documents: one agent to serve the two Directors at London addresses and the other agent travelled to Manchester to serve the third Director.
Of the two Directors with London addresses one was staying at a prestigious hotel and was served upon entering the lobby at 6.25pm. We had been informed by the client that the Director was staying at the hotel and our agent waited at the lobby until he recognized the subject from the photograph provided..
The second Director was served at a family home, a luxury flat in the West End of London at 7.30pm. Our agent knocked on the door of the property which was answered by a teenager and asked if the Director was available. The teenager could be heard asking the Director whether he was in and receiving the response “no” and our agent was able to see through the window of the property that the subject was in fact sitting in the living room. When the teenager returned to the door the Freezing Order was served. As the agent was walking away from the address the door was opened and the Director attempted, unsuccessfully, to return the documents to our agent.
The third Director was staying at a large detached property located in a gated community in an affluent area on the outskirts of Manchester. Our agent arrived at the property shortly prior to 8.00pm and following some initial difficulty was able to gain entry to the grounds of the large property by ringing the intercom and speaking to a female inside. The door to the property was opened by a female who then called the Director to the door; once our agent was able to confirm that the male was the subject the Order was served.
Outcome
All three Orders were successfully served within the required timeframe and Affidavits of Service were provided to our client the next working day.
