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Hauliers owed thousands after double-firm sell-off
Page 6
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CM INVESTIGATION
• by Chris Tindall Hauhers owed thousands of pounds by a group of freight forwarding companies fear they may never see their money after one firm ceased trading and two were sold to a Gibraltar-based software consultancy.
Grimsby-based E&C Transport was set up by Mall Elliott, along with E&C Transport and Forwarding and E&C Transport & Forwarding (UK). For several years, the firms ran smoothly but towards the end of 2002, subcontractors started experiencing problems with payment.
This coincided with the period in which Elliott negotiated the sale of E&C Transport and Forwarding and E&C Transport & Forviardirg (UK) to a company callea Ecomtech.
"A £5,000 bill didn't come through, so we chased it while we did more work," says the commercial director of one haulage firm, owed around £7,000. "He [Elliott) has not been returning any of our calls, yet he's still working fin the transport industry]."
And confusion surrounds which company is responsible for paying bills. Tyne & Wear haulier Vasey Transport requested payment from Elliott & Craig Transport, whose name graced the delivery note on a job last August. However, Elliott says this company changed its name to E&C Transport and Forwarding almost a year earlier and it was this firm which provided the work. The headed paper of the delivery note was simply an administrative error, Elliott claims. He has advised Vasey to contact Ecomtech to resolve the dispute.
Emma Vasey has now sought legal advice for the £350 she is owed and legal proceedings are underway. "It's not going to break the bank, its the principle," Vasey explains.
Even larger firms have become embroiled: Essex-based Canute Haulage is owed £213,000 according to company secretary Rob Norden. "We can't get hold of it, so credit control are working on it now," he adds.
Elliott maintains that while he is a director for E&C Transport, a company that has picked up three County Court Judgments in the past 12 months, 'the [other) companies were sold to Ecomtech, (and] I am no longer involved".
This is at odds with a Companies House search which reveals he IS still a director for E&C Transport & Forwarding (UK), something he again blames on a clerical error.
He adds that E&C Transport ceased trading last September, but it is not insolvent or in administration. He is now director for Scunthorpe-based haulier MRS Services. He says: 'When the company was sold, it was sold in good faith. I didn't need the hassle in my life from people messing us about on jobs."
Referring to a Norfolk-based haulier which is owed £1,500 for work contracted by E&C Transport last August, Elliott says: "That's basically a dispute and it's on-going. He didn't fulfil his contract and he isn't getting paid."
He refused to disclose any information on Ecomtech but said they were keen to establish a freight forwarding operation in West Yorkshire.
CM was unsuccessful in attempts to obtain comment from Ecomtech as it went to press.
• E-mail: christopberlindalicA rbi.co.uk