hammers hauliers
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of employment, so it's a double-edged sword. They lose potential work and they are owed money, resulting in financial hardship."
But the liquidators are investigating why a company which was profitable as recently as June should crash so suddenly, owing so much money. According to Ernst & Young, the new company, Stone Supplies Holdings in Bristol, began trading on 1 September, at the same time as the Stoke St Michael operation was failing, and assets from Stoke St Michael were transferred to the new operation.
A third company, Stoke Quarry Products, is also under scrutiny for taking over assets from Stoke St Michael, as is the sale of Stone Supplies (Stoke St Michael)'s main asset — a country mansion near Frome — which Ernst & Young believes was sold to a pension fund. Carter says he is "amazed that no-one at the creditors' meeting asked the liquidators how much in the pound would be paid out".
Individual hauliers are owed up to £30,000 and some of them despair of ever receiving any payment.
"Where is the money for the work we did in the past three months?" asks one, "after all, the stone has been sold."