A Walter Mitty businessman has been accused of running a defibrillator scam.
Victims claim Tony Adams sold them medical devices which didn’t arrive.
Some say that when they complained about him, police warned them they could face action for “harassment”.
The Daily Record previously exposed Adams, 24, for hiring staff to work as first aiders at sports events then refusing to pay any wages.
His National Event Medical Services firm also raced regular ambulances to the scene of heart attack alarms, with no prospect of staff being paid.
James Crawley, who runs his own event services firm in Sussex, paid £550 for an advanced Lifegain 500 unit after seeing an advert on the Medical Stuff Buy and Sell page on Facebook.
James said: “I personally don’t believe he ever intended to send it to me or that he even had the unit.
“This was a reputable selling page but he conducted himself in a shocking way.
“I found that he worked with various children’s services in Scotland, so I wrote to their chief executives to let them know they might have a safeguarding issue.
“I then received a phone call from a police constable from Irvine police office warning me from contacting him again.” James has raised the issue with Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department.
Martin Thompson Dunn, boss of First Aid Doncaster, paid for a £330 defibrillator for his son’s Taekwondo club.
He said: “The individual in question ‘sold’ me a defibrillator that never arrived, resulting in the loss of £350. Despite numerous attempts to obtain a satisfactory outcome, we are still awaiting a suitable response six months later.”
When Martin asked Adams for a Royal Mail tracking number, he says he was threatened with police action for harassment.
Adams emailed him to say that his firm have no assets or cash and that it wouldn’t be worth chasing a refund.
William Richmond complained to police in Irvine after working for Adams but going unpaid.
But William says a desk officer asked him: “You know he works for us?” William said: “That was the last I heard of it. I got the impression that they weren’t interested in looking into him because he does a bit of voluntary work for the police.”
Adams recruited staff to cover events but workers later found out the cover was provided for free – so there was no chance of wages being paid.
No workers were given vital background checks. Another firm set up by Adams is North Ayrshire Community Youth Work, which led to accusations of him passing it off as part of North Ayrshire Council.
The council are making inquiries about him.
Police said they were unaware of Adams working for the force on a voluntary basis and that they are looking into the claims.
When the Record contacted Adams, he sent a statement which he asked to be attributed to National Event Medical Services.
It stated: “Due to this being an ongoing police matter, National Event Medical Services can’t comment further.”
