Page Tycoon who wants a river
through his dining room
London’s embassy district from
Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan of
Brunei’s brother, in 2012 for a
reported £81million. The father of
five began renovating the 18th and
19th century, grade II listed proper-
ties, linked by a courtyard, in 2015
and is due to move in by october. Mr
Caudwell plans to use the ballroomPhones4U billionaire planning fish-filled
waterway for his £250m mega-mansion
Splashing out: Mr Caudwell, left with girlfriend Modesta Vzesniauskaite, merged these two propertiesto host galas in aid of good causes.
He said. ‘I can entertain 200 people
for dinner in the ballroom in a very
magnificently opulent environment.’
However Mr Caudwell has not gone
into further details of the river, which
will feature in a television documen-
tary about the refurbishment. It is
expected to use water that is con-
stantly recycled to create a flowing
effect. After buying the properties,
Mr Caudwell said that when he first
saw them he ‘felt a combination of
awe and horror [and] didn’t know
whether to love it or hate it’.
Local estate agents say his refur-
bishment has created ‘one of May-
fair’s finest houses’. But other experts
argue that central London properties
owned by the Qatari royal family can
cost up to £330million.
Mr Caudwell is said to pay the most
income tax in Britain – contributing
more than £200million over five
years. The entrepreneur, from Stoke-
on-Trent, dropped out of school to
work in a tyre factory before becom-
ing a second-hand car dealer, then
setting up his phone firm. He also
owns Broughton Hall, a £12million
Jacobean manor house in Eccleshall
near Stoke and spends time with
partner Modesta Vzesniauskaite, 35,
at his Monaco residence.By Inderdeep BainsWITH a large fortune and a
Mayfair mansion to titivate, a
water feature no doubt
seemed an excellent idea.
How about a swanky aquarium or
elegant, tinkling fountain? All a bit
passé for John Caudwell, it seems.
Instead, the mobile phones tycoon
is going to have a river – running
right through his dining room.
The 67-year-old – who sold his
Phones4u empire for £1.5billion – is
creating the waterway complete
with colourful fish to entertain
guests in the Thai-themed room.
His lavishly refurbished home will
have 15 bedrooms across nine floors,
a ballroom catering for 200 guests
and its own hidden car-lift and stack-
ing parking system. It also comes
with an entertainment floor featuring
a swimming pool, gym, salon, ‘media
room’ and games room.
The entrepreneur has merged two
Mayfair houses into one 45,000sq ft
home said to be worth £250million.
‘It’s a unique property. You can’t
find anything else like it, as far as I
know, in London – both in terms of
size and facilities,’ he told Financial
News. He bought the houses in‘Do you mind?!! We’re in the
middle of dinner!!’Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019
Ryanair voted the worst for customer service
THE first day of a strike by Ryanair pilots
ended in humiliation yesterday morning
as passengers were barely affected.
Pilots union Balpa said holidaymakers
would ‘pay the price’ for Ryanair’s
refusal to give in to its pay demands.
But travellers arriving at UK airports
found flights were operating as normal.Ryanair said: ‘All first wave flights to and
from UK airports departed as scheduled,
with 7 per cent punctuality.’
The airline said it had been inundated
with pilots volunteering to step in dur-
ing the two-day strike. It claims Balpa
wants pay rises worth between 62 per
cent and 121 per cent over two years.... but better news on the strikes
RYANAIR has been rated the worst firm
for customer service out of 100 British
brands after passengers were left dis-
mayed by its handling of complaints.
The damning verdict comes in a Which?
survey, revealing that airlines, telecoms and
energy providers performed most poorly.
Which? asked nearly 4,000 of its members
to rate how companies make them feel, how
helpful and knowledgeable their staff were,
and how well they handled complaints.
Ryanair came last – managing a paltry
customer service score of only 45 per cent,
with one star in all three categories. When
asked about how well the airline handlescomplaints, half gave it the lowest rating
possible. Given a choice of 50 words to
describe Ryanair, most passengers opted
for ‘greedy’, ‘sneaky’ and ‘arrogant’. onesaid: ‘Ryanair seem to make things deliber-
ately difficult in order to make more money
out of their customers.’ other airlines in the
survey fared only slightly better. British Air-ways scored 66 per cent in 83rd place, while
easyJet was the highest ranking airline with
68 per cent in 79th place.
Just above Ryanair in 99th place was
energy firm Scottish Power with a score of
46 per cent. And telecoms giant BT was
third from bottom with 52 per cent.
online bank First Direct, which is part of
HSBC, took top spot with 89 per cent.
Harry Rose, of Which? magazine, said:
‘People spend a lot of money with their util-
ity providers and on flights, so it’s disap-
pointing to see some woeful performance
across the board in those sectors.’
‘The best way to send a clear message to
businesses about the importance of customer
service is to spend your hard-earned cash
with brands that make it a top priority.’By Sean Poulter
Consumer Affairs EditorRELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS V1 TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws