John Hunt Driver, Brian Palmer Haulage, Mendlesham, Suffolk Hunt agrees
Page 15
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
that TCs should be adopting a tougher stance. "When a company folds and then starts up again, the TCs should be looking at what debts they owed in the past, and before they issue an 0-licence should be asking what the company plans to do differently in the future to make sure it doesn't happen again. They should have to explain how they plan to turn things around." Hunt disputes the argument that pre-packs save jobs by avoiding company closures. What happens instead, he argues, is that small firms owed money by them go under instead. "These small operators are in no position to pursue the debt and often get wiped out for the sake of only £40,000 or £50,000."
Liam Quinn Owner-driver, Quinn's Transport Shipton-by-Beningborough,York Quinn is adamant that haulage firms that go through pre-pack administration shouldn't be allowed another 0-licence because it "sends out the wrong message". He adds: "TCs should be doing a lot more; they are sending out a message that it's OK to go bust and start up again." One of the contributing factors to the failure of these firms is low rates. "But their customers are quite happy to say you start up again and we'll still give you our work' because they know they are getting it for nothing." Like other panel members, he questions how such firms can almost instantly prove the financial standing required to secure an 0-licence. "Where do they get the money?" he asks.
Paul Arthurton Owner, Paul Arthurton Transport, Attleborough, Norfolk Arthurton admits his views on firms closing through administration have changed. "If you'd asked me about 18 months ago, I would have been ranting about how wrong it is to go through a pre-pack administration and set up again. But I've recently seen a business I know close through no fault of the owners. They were left high and dry after being given an order and investing in equipment to handle it, only for the company to change hands and the new owners decided not to honour the contract." So Arthurton believes each administration should be judged on a case-by-case basis, since there are often genuine reasons for a company choosing the pre-pack route. "I'm a little less judgemental now. It's all too easy to read the headlines without looking at the facts."
Charles Burke Owner-driver,TRS Engineering, Rhonda Valley Burke damningly describes the current system of administration as "a rogue's charter". He too questions how failed firms can, sometimes within days, prove they have the financial worth needed to secure an 0-licence and has an anecdotal episode to illustrate how easy it can be. It involves a small firm that went under and, in order to start up again with a licence approval from the traffic commissioner, needed to find around £12,000 at very short notice. The company boss persuaded one of his drivers to let him use his personal credit card to raise the funds and is still, several years later, paying him back bit by bit. "If the TO had looked at the books properly, he or she would have asked where this £12,000 came from. The TCs must know what's going on and at the moment they are almost party to it. This sort of thing happens far too often and a lot of small hauliers get hurt very, very badly by it."
Ed Pargeter Director, EP Training Leatherhead, Surrey At the very least, says Pargeter, companies that resurface after going through a pre-pack administration should be monitored very closely. "If they really do save jobs, you could probably say that's a plus. But all the smaller firms that are owed money by them have got no chance of getting it back. It's other people who are left to suffer and, in fact, most of what these firms owe is usually tax or VAT, so in that respect, everybody suffers. It's definitely something that needs to be looked at more closely." Martin Barnes Project manager, Charles Gee and Co, East Huntspill, Somerset Pre-pack administrations should be outlawed, according to Barnes, "and those firms should not get another 0-licence. At the moment, everybody hides behind the argument that they protect jobs. I've been burned by pre-packs in the past when companies go down owing you money and then the next day you see the same colour trucks with a different name on them. Yet you cannot get your money back and there's a good chance they will do it all over again. There are no circumstances I can think of where pre-pack administrations have a place in our industry."