Beta website - no HTML escaping of some characters in company names

The CH beta website has an issue (I’ve reported there also) with HTML escaping of some characters in company names in the search list pages. (This doesn’t affect the API which reports the underlying data correctly in both).

Examples:
08264580 named M&M PARTY PACKS “EXCLUSIVE PARTY SOLUTIONS” LTD
Shows as M&M PARTY PACKS “EXCLUSIVE PARTY SOLUTIONS” LTD in search but M&M PARTY PACKS “EXCLUSIVE PARTY SOLUTIONS” LTD (correct) in profile.

11678385 - BETTS & TWINE LTD appears as BETTS & TWINE LTD

07657267 - JW INSTALLATIONS & TEST LIMITED appears as JW INSTALLATIONS & TEST LIMITED in search.

09040187 - MISTER SINCLAIR FITNESS & WELLBEING LIMITED appears as MISTER SINCLAIR FITNESS & WELLBEING LIMITED
11338331 - COCO & ROX LIMITED appears as COCO & ROX LIMITED

There is 7074667 - ASPIRE CHILDREN'S SERVICES LIMITED - which appears correctly in both (' was not in HTML4 but apparently in HTML5 and possibly XHTML / some XML?).

Also affects other fields which may contain such characters:

Search shows:
OPENREACH LTD
Matching previous names:
&
08921585 - Dissolved on 13 December 2016
Enterprise Court, Downmill Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1QS

In the company profile window this is shown as:

& LTD

Same issue with CHAMBERLAIN BENNETT & SONS LIMITED - 11443494
Previous name: CHAMBERLAIN BENNETT & SONS LIMITED

And: JOINERY & PODS LTD - SC601257
Previous name: JOINERY &AMP: PODS LTD

Other examples:
ALLIANCE STRUCTURES & FORMWORK LIMITED - 10274854
ZOO HAIR AND BEAUTY LTD - SC541450
“SQUARE METER” PROPERTY & INVESTMENTS LLP - OC403986
A RUSSELL & SON CONSTRUCTION LIMITED - 08001921
UNISUN IMPORT & EXPORT LIMITED - 08026124
etc.

For what it may be worth to those investigating, we receive our core data as bulk product and BETTS & TWINE LTD appears in the original raw text AND on the Incorporation Certificate so it looks as though the issue (if it is one at all) starts well before the Beta website sees it!

So far, I have only found 11338331 - COCO & ROX LIMITED as an extant example (incorporated on 1 May 2018 with a matching certificate) in our dataset.

No doubt CH will resolve these with the Companies / Formation Agents concerned and formal name changes will follow on if appropriate. It is just possible that either or both are deliberate use of “special” characters.

My main point was that Beta search needs some character escaping!

As @frank said it looks like CH and or the company owners themselves are resolving these “literal HTML escapes” over time. Most companies affected have been renamed and / or dissolved / ceased. I would imagine most - if not all - were unintended but they were registered with the odd character sequences #.

Since CH now has automated filing I feel there’s only greater potential for this sort of thing. There will be, at least until there is some further validation / restriction on input / change to interface design to guide people towards legitimate responses. (If there is and you know of it - please correct me. I’m also not mentioning the vast legacy data set since that’s an issue for us users.) For an example see this previous post about addresses:

(Not to be down on humans - even now people can still compete with machines in the field of error).

e.g.