Help Shapour Meftah fund his legal battle for justice

My name is Shapour Meftah.

Many of you will know me from using my computer and mobile phone repair service on Mill Road, or you may also have sought my help in my role as an Ambassador for the White Ribbon Campaign, which provides assistance to women who are victims of domestic violence; many of you have come to my shop to talk to me directly.

I have been running my business, CantabMillennium from 95 Mill Road for almost 30 years, during which time I have provided a reliable, value for money service, operating single handedly, 6 days a week. Like many of you, I was raised to work hard and give back where I can; I am also extremely proud that my little shop also acts as a community hub where many of you have sought companionship, advice or help. I hope you’ll agree that for those of you who on occasion have found themselves unable to pay the going rate for repairs to equipment due to financial difficulties, that I have been kind and helped to ease your worries where I can, by charging as little as possible, often making no profit myself.

Unfortunately, I now find myself in a position where I desperately need your help in return. In 2020, I entered into a partnership with a ‘friend’ of 25 years standing, whereby we purchased the whole property which I hoped would secure my future and enable me to continue to operate the business from the shop, in the same way that I always have done.

Sadly, that partnership has failed, resulting in court action a month ago where my former partner sought possession of the shop and sadly, I was not represented as I should have been by my legal counsel. The result of that action was that I either settled the judgement in full, a total of £59,000, or I would have to vacate the property within 1 month, Friday 6th June.

With the help of family and friends and a hastily arranged loan, I managed to cobble the funds needed together to settle in full, at the very last minute. As you can imagine, this has all been cripplingly expensive, very stressful and had a tremendously negative effect on my health and wellbeing; I try to treat others as I would like to be treated, so to find that not everyone is the same, is both upsetting and shocking.

Now, having managed to stay in my shop in the short term, I desperately need your help to fund the legal action against my former partner to recover what I am owed, so I can be assured of my long-term future and continue to provide the friendly, reasonably priced, reliable service you have supported and enjoyed for so long. A lot is it at stake.

To do this, I would be incredibly grateful if you would consider donating whatever you can towards helping me with the very substantial legal fees that pursuing this action will entail and in returning some of the money loaned to me to stop me being evicted from my shop. To that end, I am hoping to raise around £45,000. Many of you have already expressed an interest in offering some financial assistance and I hope by setting up this page, it will allow you to do so; I genuinely am thankful for every contribution, however small, and can assure you that any monies received will be used appropriately.

I am a very proud man, reluctant to ask for help but without your support I simply cannot take this any further due to the escalating costs of implementing legal action, nor can I sustain the ongoing costs of running the shop whilst funding legal action to secure what is rightfully mine.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this page, and if any of you would like more information on why I am asking for financial support and further details, well, for the time being you can find me at 95 Mill Road, where I will be more than happy to elaborate.