Farid snapped. He had put up with Simon’s bizarre behaviour for long enough. Smoking skunk in the office, being abusive to staff and customers, assaulting a well-known property developer. Farid had suggested Simon take a sabbatical, he’d offered to buy Simon out, to wind up their business and distribute the assets. He’d reached out to one of Simon’s former friends, as well as a former adviser, to seek their help to try to get Simon to recognise that he had an addiction problem, how destructive his behaviour had become and how it had to stop, but all to no avail....

As soon as friction creeps into a relationship clear communication can save a whole heap of trouble.  The relationship in this Tale had a sound foundation. Friends and former colleagues in a property investment company, Paul and Idrees knew each other well and you can imagine the conversation, full of optimism and excitement, when Paul called Idrees to invite him to join his next venture.

Steve left school without any qualifications and started working in the scrap metal trade, over time becoming an accomplished trader. One of the companies he did business with had a scrap yard in London and there he met the owner’s daughter, Amy, whom he subsequently married. Amy had stayed at school to get some GCSEs and had no further formal education. In 2000, Amy and Steve set up OSR, a scrap metal trading company. Steve did the buying and selling while Amy took responsibility for the accounting, financial and compliance aspects of the business, as well as running the home and a family of...