Hauliers' anger at 'phoenix firm' Matthews Logistics
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Shy Charles YOUflg
Creditors of failed haulier Matthews European are furious that its wealthy director was up and running with a new haulage venture just days after calling in the receivers.
Kenneth Matthews' Eirough, East Yorksbased company went into receivership on 5 May when Ernst & Young were appointed joint administrative receivers.
Within a week Kenneth Matthews was already running another business called Matthews Logistics, operating out of the same yard with the same phone number and at least some of Matthews European's customers (see panel).
While there is nothing illegal in this, creditors are particularly upset that Kenneth Matthews' personal wealth appears unaffected by the receivership while they are struggling. Matthews lives in a E350,000 house, runs a BMW and a Bentley and partowns a helicopter.
In stark contrast, owner-driver David Wright is owed £7,500 by Matthews European and is now struggling to pay his mort gage. "I'm up to my eyeballs in debt, says Wright. "We're struggling to feed our children while he's enjoying his life with his helicopter and Bentley."
Wright adds that he was promised he would be paid so he worked right up until the end of the week in which Matthews closed the European side of his business. Wright has not yet been paid for work he carried out in February.
Owner-driver David Krynicke says he is owed £9,500 for work completed in February. He stopped working for Matthews in March as he feared he would not be paid. "The bank has lent me some money but I've had to put my house up as collateral," he says. "It's the only way to keep my head above water." Mick Moody from Moody International is owed £5,000, also for work carried out in February. "I think this whole business stinks," he says. "It's really left us in the lurch. How can somebody go pop one day and be running again the next?"
At least two other hauliers, who wish to remain anonymous, are owed 210,000 and 226,000; money is also owed for vehicle repairs and maintenance.
At the creditors' meeting angry creditors are expected to ask: • Why did the company only become limited last year, after years of sole trading?
• Why were its trucks sold and re-leased weeks before the receivership?
IrWhat happened to a batch of tyres which
disappeared from the yard just before the receivership?
Matthews has told CM that the trucks were sold to pay off the company's overdraft with the Royal Bank of Scotland and that the tyres were stolen—although he admits their theft has not been reported to the police.
He says he went limited because he was about to buy BB Read International.
• Matthews European has nothing to do with Matthews International Transport of Great Yarmouth; Matthews Haulage of Gloucestershire; Matthews Haulage of Hertford; or Matthews Transport of Birmingham.