In 1980 he founded a wholesale business on a double decker bus in Calais selling cheap alcohol and cigarettes on the back of a lorry.

His business moved to permanent premises and was named EastEnders, which is now a part of the largest British owned cash and carry group in Europe.

The following year he paid more than £100,000 to attend David and Victoria Beckham's charity World Cup party,[4] and said that he was subject to such an unwelcoming pre-party briefing that he chose to boycott the event.

After winning the bidding for the two tickets in an on-line auction, he was instructed to sign a confidentiality agreement, as well as being banned from handing out his business cards to guests or taking his mobile phone and camera to the party.

[1] Following a drunken argument with his son (David West Jr), he died from a single knife wound to the heart on 12 December 2014, though his jugular vein had also been cut.