Can an ex-employer enforce restrictive covenants once they have ceased trading in

[JJ101]

my town? I used to work for a letting agent who recently closed the office where I worked and sold the property stock to another agent. I resigned before the transfer went through and have since set up as an independent letting agent. Some of my old clients have recently contacted me asking me to take over managing their properties as they are not happy with the service they are receiving from the agent they were 'sold' to. This agent has contacted my ex-employer accusing me of enticing business away from them and I have received a letter from ex-employer's solicitors reminding me of the covenants in my employment contract with them. They have made specific reference to the fact that I am not allowed to solicit business from my old clients nor am I allowed to compete with them. This would be fair enough if they were still trading but their closest office is now 40 miles away and the clients I used to deal with are no longer their clients but the clients of the other agent. I have been informed by their solicitors that my ex-employer has come to a financial agreement with the new agent whereby they continue to receive income for all the properties the new agent keeps for the next 18 months. Losing properties to me (or any other agent for that matter) will apparently cause my previous employer to lose money and therefore gives them the right to restrict my trade. Are they allowed to do this and can it be enforced, given that these clients have contacted me of their own free will, they are no longer clients of my ex-employer, my ex-employer closed their office in my town, and any agreement they may have reached with the agent they sold the property stock to is nothing to do with me as I never worked for them or signed anything agreeing to be restricted by them. They are threatening to take an injunction out against me, but so far I haven't actually taken on any business or received any money from my old clients, they have merely contacted me asking how they go about taking their properties back and giving them to me. My ex-employer would also be hard-pushed to sue me for anything as starting up a business means I am in debt and have no money or assets with which to pay them! Any genuine advice would be greatly appreciated.