“I have a trade mark for my one-man business ‘EasyJetwash’ - but I’m now facing legal action from easyJet”

A dad who runs a driveway cleaning business called EasyJetwash is being threatened with legal action by the founder of easyJet.

Jozsef Spekker, 43, charges around £100 to pressure wash people's drives, patios, garden paths and conservatories. He has run his one-man business for three years but is now in hot water with easyGroup, which is owned by budget airline boss Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Jozsef applied to trade mark his company name and was approved in April 2022.

The multinational venture capital conglomerate - worth billions - has written to Jozsef ordering him to rebrand his business or face a costly legal battle. He says the company has asked him to take down social media posts and accounts featuring the branding, including advertisements which cost him a lot of money. Jozsef claims if he had to do this, he would have to close the business.

Jozsef, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, said: “I’m worried to lose everything to be honest. With the GoFundMe, maybe I have a way to fight it. I can’t afford someone to represent me. I’m just a bloke. Loads of people say that I can win this case. It’s not only ridiculous, but it’s heartless.”

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said: "From my point of view I think Mr Spekker is one of the most calculating and profiteering brand thieves I have come across in the 30 years I have been doing this job.

"Not only he registered the domain easyjetwash.com which clearly contains the word easyJet but also he very cleverly performed search engine optimisation to come up very highly on google search engine results using the search term “easyjet wash”. We will win in court."