Response to letter dated 22 October

As you will see, the response has come from The trustee Corporation, not L&G (to whom it was addressed). Please note the part where Mr Sutton states that L&G are not really in a position to answer the question re financial loss - something to be wary of (they're the people managing our finances!!) 

There is mention of a response from Toyoda (Japan), this is yet to be received.

Email received Weds, 07 December 2011

Dear Mr Nichols

I apologise for the delay with this email. I can confirm that I did receive your email, despite the technical issues you suffered. Unfortunately, I have been out of the office regularly recently, following family bereavements.

First of all, can I apologise for the error which occured with your address. I imagine that the inclusion of a different address in an email from you from the one held on L&G's system would have (I think understandably) have caused confusion at L&G. They should have checked this with us, or with you directly but obviously did not. Suffice it to say, they are now completely clear as to your correspondence address going forward.

I note that you say Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxx and possibly Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx have not yet received the October 2011 announcement. I have therefore asked Stephanie to send them copies directly unless she is aware that these have already been sent and received.

I note the various comments you have made to Jonathan Asher about L&G's handling of the data. This has, as you know, been a concern to us throughout and was the key reason why the recent annuity recosting slot with Aegon was missed. Given that we now have until Q2/2012 for the next recosting slot, we are using the time to undertake further data checking exercises. The first is the second round of data verification directly with members. As I mentioned in my recent email, this is underway internally (Steph having spot checked some 15% of the forms) and a number of questions have been raised with L&G. I am also discussing a further approach to data verification with L&G but am unclear as yet if this will be achievable. The aim is to move closer (as close as possible) to 100% confidence in the data set underlying the buy-out with Aegon.

You have also asked L&G if they can guarantee that members will suffer no financial loss. L&G are not really in a position to answer this. They are aware of the parent company guarantee but we (the trustee) are the party to it. You, of course, already have a copy of it and have taken legal advice on it. In this regard, I can confirm that we have been in touch with the parent company periodically throughout the winding-up process, most recently a couple of weeks ago. Like us, they have been concerned about L&G's data handling and timescales but there is no suggestion from any of our communications that the parent company will not honour the guarantee. I am also aware that they are replying to your letter to the Toyoda President, if they have not already done so.

Finally, I can confirm that 15 December 2008 was the date on which the company entered liquidation, and therefore this is the date on which the wind up of the Scheme was triggered in accordance with the Scheme rules. I have attached a Companies House screen shot confirming the position below my email sign off.

I trust this addresses your queries. Please be assured that we are doing all we can to conclude the wind-up and buy-out of members' benefits successfully in Q2/2012.

Kind regards.

Philip W. SuttonDirector
For and on behalf of
The Trustee Corporation Limited