AS FORWARDERFAILS
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• The crash of a Suffolk freight forwarder and the setting up of another company by one of its directors has sparked anger among dozens of hauliers owed money following the collapse.
At a creditors' meeting to discuss the voluntary liquidation of Harleston-based Jon Parks Trailers, operators expressed anger over Donald Merrin's post as director of JP Warehousing and Transport. Merrin is the majority shareholder and a board director of Jon Park Trailers, and a director of JP Warehousing and Transport. The second company, which is currently operating from the same Harleston premises, began trading in June, five months before Jon Parks Trailers ceased trading on 5 November. According to the directors JP Warehousing is involved with storage and warehousing—Jon Park Trailers was a freight forwarder. Speaking after the meeting, Colin McKay of Maidstone-based McKay Freight said he is owed 25,000 for four or five international trips carried out in the summer for Jon Parks Trailers.
Also speaking after the meeting, Merrin said: "There's been a lot of fuss but there's been absolutely nothing dodgy about this. The VAT men visited us last month and there were no problems." In their Estimated Statement of Affairs, which was presented to the meeting, the directors admitted they owed around £148,000 to their 60 unsecured creditors. The company traded for less than a year and the directors blamed the recession for its demise.
Ipswich-based liquidator Paterson & Thompson will now routinely study Jon Parks' accounts and attempt to sell any assets. There is a chance of a small dividend for creditors, of around 10p in the pound.