Bad debt led Bulmers to default on HMRC payment
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christopher.walton@rbi.co.uk HARRISONS BUSINESS Recovery and Insolvency was appointed as administrator of Bulmers Transport on Monday 14 February as the fall-out from the collapse of the firm continued.
The company, which was formed in 2009 in a pre-pack administration after its predecessor Bulmers Logistics failed, suffered a bad debt of £138,000 in January from customer Bulk Concepts.
This led to it defaulting on Inland Revenue payments, and a winding-up petition issued by HMRC was heard on Thursday 10 February. Director Johnathan Bulmer told CM how he told the staff on Friday 4 February, with tears in his eyes, that the company would cease trading and they would all lose their jobs.
“We had good passion and a good belief in the business. I tried to speak to as many staff as possible.” As CM reported last week, Ward Bros (Malton) took on the running of day-to-day operations of some customers’ contracts where the two firms had an overlap on Monday 7 February.
It has offered jobs to approximately 70 staff from Bulmers Transport and taken on about 40% of Bulmers’ fleet, some 60 vehicles. Traffic Commissioners are considering Ward Bros’s application to add two new operating centres to its licence that are used by Bulmers, extending its O-licence from 40 vehicles and 65 trailers to 105 vehicles and 120 trailers. Meanwhile, Felixstowe-based Goldstar Transport has offered jobs to five former Bulmers Transport drivers in the area as a result of what director Simon Day describes as an expansion in the firm’s fleet.
Bulmer tells CM it will be some time before he returns to road transport again so soon after the second collapse of his business: “I am gathering my thoughts in terms of my future.
“I need time to reflect. The past three weeks have nearly killed me.” ● See letter p20 for reaction to Bulmers Transport’s collapse
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