TRADING officials are investigating a company which was dissolved four months ago.

Orellana Ltd has leafleted parts of North Yorkshire, asking for unwanted clothes and household items to go to Third World families.

The leaflets give a company registration number but Companies House says London-based Orellana was dissolved on June 27 and has filed no accounts since it was incorporated as a public limited company on July 1, 2005.

Details have been passed to the Department of Trade and Industry's investigations branch after leaflets were delivered in the Richmond and Catterick area.

Consumer Direct, which advises the public on consumer matters, and North Yorkshire trading standards officers were alerted to the company by householders who were suspicious about the leaflets.

The flyers initially appeared to be legal because the company did not claim to be a charity and indicated that items were sold rather than given away.

But, after learning of the dissolution, a Consumer Direct spokesman said: "The company is potentially acting illegally.

"Unless the business has been transferred officially to a private individual, then a company which has been dissolved should not trade."

A spokesman for trading standards confirmed that, if a company was transferred in this way, it required a new registration number. It was an offence under the Companies Act to continue to trade under the old number. The Orellana flyers carry the number of the dissolved company.

The leaflets ask for unwanted clothing, household linen and toiletries to be left in plastic bags outside front doors, ready for collection.

They describe Orellana Ltd as "a collection company who provide people in Third World countries with clothes for their families they can afford".

A Catterick Village resident, who did not want to be named, received a leaflet and said an unmarked van had been in the area collecting bags left out by neighbours.

He said: "Something about the leaflet and the activity made me suspicious and I am pleased that this company will now be investigated."

No telephone number is listed for Orellana Ltd, whose registered office is 696 Barking Road, East London.

The company failed to respond to a request for a comment from The Northern Echo, sent via an e-mail address given on its leaflets