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Quote from Sunday Mail report:.........
CAPTAIN LYIN' AIR Oct 27 2002
Fly conman wants £2.5m to get 10th airline off the ground
Jamie Macaskill & Billy Paterson
A SELF-STYLED Richard Branson who promises investors his new airline Lionair will make millions is today exposed as a serial conman by the Sunday Mail.
Neil Robertson, 37, who wears an airline captain's uniform even though he can't fly, is trying to raise £2.5million to start up his tenth airline.
He boasts it will be making a £10million profit in three years and claims to have a huge cargo plane which will fly into Prestwick Airport within days to launch the business.
He says on his website that the airport will be the worldwide base of Lionair with eight Tristar jets and 150 staff on salaries of up to £80,000 a year.
But we can reveal it is the latest in a string of fantasy airlines created by the man dubbed Captain Lyin'air.
He has already launched Caledonian Wings - dubbed Con Air - City Connexions, SecureAir, FreshAir, TransOceanic, PegasusAir, Skymaster Freight, Trans Lloyd Cargo and Africargo Airlines.
None of them took off.
Robertson is trying to lure backers with a promise of a 505 per cent return on their investment within three years.
He is offering Lionair shares at 5p each and claims that by 2005 they will be worth 25p. Someone investing £10,000 would have shares worth £50,000 in three years.
One investment analyst said: "It is sheer fantasy in a falling market. It shows what a scam this is."
Robertson's website claims Lionair will become "the leading international force in the supply of global air cargo" and forecasts sales of £30million within three years.
But Deloitte and Touche, the company selling the 38-year-old Shorts Belfast cargo plane Robertson says will launch Lionair, denied having any dealings with him. A spokesman said: "We have not heard of this individual or his company."
Prestwick Airport, where Robertson claims to be based, also rubbished his plans. Managing director Tom Wilson said: "He does not have an office here. Once in the past we met and he's spoken to us about passenger and freight operations but we have yet to see any aircraft at Prestwick.
"So far we have not seen any evidence of aircraft ownership as far as Mr Robertson is concerned.
"We are not aware of him ever owning any aircraft or having a licence to operate any aircraft."
A senior banking source said they doubted any bank would lend money to buy the ancient plane - the last of its type still flying in the world.
The Bank of Scotland, which Robertson claims is his corporate bank also distanced themselves from the conman. They were furious he had named their corporate division as his "service partner".
The bank's spokeswoman said: "He is not a corporate customer and we are trying to contact him to instruct him to remove our logo from his website." The Sunday Mail can also reveal Robertson's fellow director, James Torrance, 64, is a retired cat- food manufacturer with no experience in the airline industry.
He lives in a flat in Troon, which it is believed he shares with his parents. Robertson is beleived to be staying in the town, too.
Torrancesaid he had the utmost faith in Robertson. He added: "I wouldn't be involved in this if I wasn't confident it would succeed."
Asked what his confidence in Robertson was based on, he would only reply: "Because I know what's happening."
Mr Torrance described Prestwick Airport as "only an accommodation address" for Lionair at the moment.
Later, his wife Joyce called the Sunday Mail to complain about our investigation.
She said: "You are the type of worm I could crush," before hanging up.
Robertson, who calls himself "The Guv'nor", went to ground last year after getting scores of inquiries from out-of-work pilots, engineers and cabin crew for jobs in Caledonian Wings.
Yesterday, an aviation source said: "Neil Robertson is a Walter Mitty character. It could seem like harmless fun but it can be harmful to people who are taken in by his claims."
[END OF REPORT]
Cheers
JH