Trading status in doubt
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Karen Miles and Sally Nash • The trading status of Derbyshire freight forwarder Midland European Freight Services was unclear earlier this week amid rumours that it had closed.
Although a company letter written on 12 June to a Lanarkshire haulier declares it has ceased trading "due to lack of funds", a spokeswoman for MEFS refused to be drawn on whether the firm is still operating.
Seven-vehicle haulier R Taylor & Sons from Douglas in Lanarkshire says it is owed £705 by the freight forwarder for work carried out in May 1997. Partner Matt Coke is furious that the directors of MEFS are now running a haulage company— Midland European (North rest)—from the same premises in Belper.
He accuses the common directors, Jonathan and Josephine Hallam, of "setting the ball rolling" in the second company when they hit troubles in the first, leaving him with his debt.
The charge is strongly denied by Jonathan Hallam's cousin, John 1-Iallam, who acts as traffic clerk to the five-truck business. He says the haulage company was set up 18 months ago and that it has been run separately to Midland European Freight Services. "There's nothing wrong with that," he says.
In the past two years, 13 county court judgements, with a total value of £14,411, have been awarded against MEFS. John Hallam says the company is owed £70,000 by three of its customers.