Wondering whether employing an editor or proofreader is financially sensible? In 2009, a 124-year-old family business employing 250 people was bankrupted thanks to a typographic error – a single misplaced letter ‘s’ – on a government register.
Companies House (the UK government’s registrar of companies) recorded Taylor & Sons as having gone bust, when in fact Taylor & Son had. Though the mistake was apparently recognised and corrected within three days, it was too late to stop Taylor & Sons joining Taylor & Son in bankruptcy.
On the 27th of January 2015 the British High Court found the government liable for destroying Taylor & Sons with incorrect spelling, meaning taxpayers could be up for £9 million in costs.
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