Frigoline boss slams bank after collapse
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by Dominic Perry Geoff Hoyle, one of the former directors of failed Dover haulier Frigoline, has condemned the government and the firm's bank for ignoring the plight of hauliers hit by the foot-andmouth crisis.
Frigoline went into liquidation on 24 July (CM 9-15 Aug) with debts of about £500,000 following a turbulent four years of trading in which it was sued, lost 150.000 in bad debts and was then hit by the foot-andmouth export ban.
More recently a decision to ban the two directors, Royle and Geoff Hart, from holding an 0-licence was imposed by Deputy Traffic Commissioner Michael Turner for failing to hand over tachograph records.
However, Hoyle insists that the company should have been a viable business as it handled some 17% of the UK's frozen Iamb exports.
Royle says that Frigoline was "surviving" before the footand-mouth crisis hit, but work "dried up overnight".
He adds that the company applied for government aid, but was refused a loan and told that it could find alternative business—something which Hoyle insists would have been impossible with the firm's specialist equipment, He says: "We had an £85,000 overdraft facility at the bank which was removed virtually overnight and without which we couldn't work. It was an excellent company and had a lot of blue-chip business. It was a very sad day to see it close.
"I feel very sorry for our creditors, just as any company would, but if we'd had the support from the bank and the government we wouldn't be in this situation."
One creditor says: "We aren't happy about the situation, but foot and mouth seems to have been the final nail in the coffin and the government hasn't helped them."