What would Hetchins Ltd. [sic] be doing in West Wratting, I wondered. Two things struck me immediately: first, Hetchins Ltd. is not the name under which Hetchins trades. It trades under the name Hetchins Lightweights (no "Ltd."). Second, Hetchins Lightweights is located in Preston (Lancashire), not W. Wratting (not far from Cambridge). Email correspondence ensued, with the result that Ray Bostock turned up the following information from Companies House UK:
Hetchins Ltd.
Hetchins Cycles Ltd.
W.W. House Ltd.
Cruise Automation.
Are all registered at Companies House by Angus Donald Birditt Director and Sec. John Wilson Page also Sec.
The registration address is the West Wratting address: the correspondence address is given as 31 Cobalt Square, Hagley Road, Birmingham.
David Miller's comment was that it is "a mystery as to what they need to register the Hetchins names for, unless they are accumulating titles for future use."
At this time, it is not known what Mr. Birditt's or Mr. Wilson's intentions are.
Those with long memories may recall an incident which came to light in 2001, in which a well-known (in the UK at any rate) frame builder registered a name and web site, claimed to be the 'official Hetchins', and displayed three rogue frames at a trade show in the USA.
In the interest of avoiding any misunderstanding about what the registration of the names Hetchins Ltd. and Hetchins Cycles Ltd. means, I would like to set out some basic facts, as follows:
1. The firm Hyman Hetchin founded in Tottenham London traded under the name Hetchins Lightweight Cycle Specialists. Since 1993 the firm trades under the name Hetchins Lightweights, currently located in Preston, and is the one and only authorized maker of Hetchins bicycle frames. The oldest documented Hetchins was ordered in April 1935, and delivered the following month. In a few weeks, the firm will have been in continuous production for 90 years; that is a remarkable achievement, given that it started out as a two-man show. It continues today, as a two-man show, and there is an unbroken paper trail going back to Hyman Hetchin: David Miller is still taking orders, Paul Riley is still building frames.
2. The registration of the names "Hetchins Ltd." and "Hetchins Cycles Ltd." at Companies House UK is meaningless. Companies House does not do anything but register NAMES; names which have nothing whatever to do with actual running COMPANIES. It's just like scams coming out of China whereby some 'agency' informs me that an unnamed person or company in China wishes to register the domain hetchins.cn and the 'agent' tries to persuade me to pay a fee to prevent them doing so. I get these requests every few months and I bounce them.
3. Registering a company name at Companies House UK is not mandatory, nor does not registering a company name at Companies House UK mean that a company is illegitimate or not real. Incorporating a company as a limited liability company (Ltd. in the UK or Inc. in America) is not mandatory, nor does not incorporating a company as a limited liability company mean that a company is illegitimate or not real. There are literally hundreds of thousands of companies in the UK which are not registered at Companies House UK or incorporated as limited liability companies; hundreds of thousands of mom-&-dad corner shops (think "Open All Hours" with Ronnie Barker) and Bed&Breakfasts (think "Fawlty Towers" ...) are not registered at Companies House UK or incporporated as limited liability companies, and they are just as legit and real as any company which happens to have a registered name or status as a limited liability corporation. Companies House UK registers only NAMES, not COMPANIES.
4. Companies House UK does not undertake to determine whether a name is already in common usage when an application is made. It merely checks its own list for names already registered. So, for example, if someone wanted to register the name Aston Martin Cars Ltd., and Companies House had a Listing for Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. but no previous listing for Aston Martin Cars Ltd., then Companies House UK would have no objection to someone's registering the new name, even if he had no relationship to the manufacturer.
5. If someone is indeed "accumulating titles for future use," let it be known that the Hetchins firm is not up for grabs, and that its logos, badges, and transfers are protected by copyright law.
The Editor wishes to thank Ray Bostock for doing some research on this and posting to the FB group. Hetchins enjoys a level of brand recognition and brand loyalty which would be the envy of any company in the world. American vintage cycle enthusiasts were massively helpful in shaming off the field a previous rogue builder who tried to co-opt the Hetchins marque once before; given that rogue frames are still turning up, continued vigilance and support is greatly appreciated.
The hetchins.com web site was taken off-line recently for administrative reasons. David and I corresponded about this last year and it was agreed to retain the domain to prevent anyone else co-opting it, but it contains no web content. Hetchins.org and hetchins.com have been de facto consolidated into a single web space, with David's kind permission.
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