Plungers at 40 paces as former Ten boss sued in plumbing war

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This was published 14 years ago

Plungers at 40 paces as former Ten boss sued in plumbing war

Former Network Ten chief Steve Cosser has become locked in a battle of the U-bends in London as two plumbing firms go to war over their celebrity clients.

Cosser's plumbing company Service Corps is being sued by the high-profile Pimlico Plumbers over claims his firm stole a selection of Pimlico's A-list clients and poached key staff.

Pimlico is owned by Britain's richest plumber, Charlie Mullins - a self-made millionaire whose celebrity clients include Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Daniel Craig, Dame Helen Mirren and members of the Chelsea soccer team.

Mullins claims Service Corps, which opened for business in 2007, engaged in industrial espionage by stealing confidential information from Pimlico.

He has launched a High Court law suit in London in an attempt to recoup compensation of about 1 million pound ($1.8 million), most of which he plans to donate to charity if he wins.

A spokeswoman for Cosser refused to answer questions about the legal action.

But Mullins had plenty to say, accusing Cosser of setting up Service Corps in reaction to having his takeover offer for Pimlico knocked back.

"We are a family business and have been going for 30 years and I believe Service Corps has been deliberately set up to disrupt us as much as possible," Mullins said.

"He wanted to buy Pimlico Plumbers and we refused.

"I told him it's not up for sale and it's not going to be up for sale and he didn't like it."

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Cosser headed Ten's former owner Northern Star until it was placed in receivership in 1990.

The former ABC radio broadcaster later set up pay-TV operator Australis, which was bought by Foxtel, as well as broadband operator Unwired, from which he severed ties in 2007.

Cosser used to be a regular customer of Pimlico until he set up Service Corps with Pimlico's former call centre manager Stephen Henessey, who is also being sued by Mullins.

Cosser is believed to be the majority shareholder in Service Corps, while five other former Pimlico employees hold stakes of 10 per cent each.

Mullins alleges Cosser enticed about 20 Pimlico staff to join Service Corps in breach of their contracts and obtained his company's confidential list of clients in the process.

He successfully won a court order in September to seize Service Corp's computers so they could be forensically examined for evidence to back his claims.

The High Court now has to decide whether the case should proceed.

Mullins says the court action is not about money, but about principle.

"There's a big enough market share in London for plumbing and I am certainly not against another company operating in there as long as it's on a level playing field," he said.

"Why should people be allowed to get away with something like this?

"If and when we get the compensation we will donate a large sum of it to charity."

AAP

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