Four operators go bust between Bank Holidays
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By Joanna Bourke and Chris Tindall
THE FINAL WEEKS of April were gloomy for four operators, which all went into liquidation.
Stockton-on-Tees-based Teesside Logistics, Bradford haulier RW Feather & Son, Felixstowebased K&M Haulage (UK) and Essex operator TBJ Transport have all appointed liquidators to wind up their businesses.
Teesside Logistics, which had an O-licence for 12 vehicles and six trailers, is the latest casualty, with directors Gordon Mitchell and Colin Mitchell calling in joint liquidators Gareth Rusling and John Russell of the P&A Partnership on 28 April.
It is not Mitchell’s irst time experiencing insolvency. Both were formerly directors at Mitchell Warehousing and Mitchell Trucking Co, which entered administration in 2010 and 2008 respectively.
Colin Mitchell tells CM the company lost its distribution contract with Asda to Wincanton in January 2010 and then entered a legal dispute over the contract termination. It lost, leaving it with costs of about £20,000, and has struggled to keep its head above water since. He set up Mitchell Trucking on 11 April, “hoping to build up a new company slowly”.
Meanwhile, on 27 April, RW Feather & Son appointed Peter O’Hara of O’Hara & Co as company liquidator. The company, which had an O-licence for 12 vehicles and 10 trailers, was able to pay all preferential creditors but not unsecured creditors. It leaves a £32,749 deiciency.
A week earlier, TBJ Transport appointed liquidators from Begbies Traynor to the business.
It is estimated unsecured creditors are owed £937,000 and preferential creditors are thought to be owed almost £63,000.
The company had a licence for 30 vehicles and 40 trailers and, according to a spokeswoman for the Eastern Trafic Commissioner, it withdrew an application for a new licence before a hearing took place on 25 March.
One creditor describes the irm’s closure as “simple misfortune” and adds: “We subbed for them for many years. I admire them – they have pulled the plug now rather than taking a lot more people for a lot more money.” “It’s tough in the haulage business. We mainly do vehicle maintenance for other customers and that’s the side of the business that keeps us aloat.” Finally, K&M Haulage (UK) was wound up on the same day, approximately a year after it entered administration. Insolvency irm SFP was unable to sell the business and has dissolved the company entirely.