Darlington firm secures cash from the Government

Feb 2 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

A BUSINESS which turned down Dragon's Den stars Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden has secured cash from the Government to invest in its future.

Darlington-based Diesel Do Nicely (DDN) won £250,000 investment from the two dragons in return for a 25% stake in the firm when it appeared on the hit BBC show in August 2008.

But bosses at DDN, which sells the Fuel Angel – a device fitted to diesel vehicles to prevent them being filled with unleaded petrol – walked away from the dragons after they felt the stake in their business was too high.

The firm sourced private investment to develop its Fuel Angel and has gone on to sell them across the world, mainly to company and emergency services vehicles.

Now Darlington-based business advisory and accountancy firm Clive Owen & Co has helped the firm receive £24,000 in cash plus an additional £8,000 in tax relief back from the Government, as part of a research and development tax credit scheme.

Michael Cotton, the director who appeared on Dragon’s Den, said: “We were over the moon when we went on Dragon’s Den but we decided to walk away because we felt we were losing too much control in the business.

“We did find private investment but like any business in the recession, this has been a challenging time for us. Being able to get £32,000 back through this scheme is fantastic and has come at just the right time.”

Peter Hogan, tax partner at Clive Owen, said: “Any businesses which are trying to refine a particular process or product or developing a new product may qualify – anything where there’s innovation.”