End of the road for Unit 91
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• Unit 91, the owner-drivers' co-operative set up last year to fight for better rates, is being wound up, owing thousands of pounds to its own members.
A creditors' meeting will be held in London on 9 September, and the insolvency manager organising it says there is "no possible way" the organisation can continue.
"The meeting will appoint a liquidator and a liquidation committee," explains Terry Follett of insolvency practitioner Elliot, Woolfe & Rose. The Unit 91 office in Loughborough was closed two weeks ago. Rose will not say how many creditors there are, or how much is owed: the association is claimed to have 52 members.
Mike Pickering, the controversial founder of Unit 91, was sacked as general manager in May by the group's directors, and later reinstated by members. His own haulage business has collapsed since the launch of the co-operative, and he is now unemployed — but he plans to fight on: "I am trying to pull Unit through, although we are short of funds," he says. "Our mistake was to try to help too many people."
However, one of the founding directors of Unit 91, Nottingham-based Bob Ellard, claims Pickering "lives in a fantasy land". Ellard, who stood down as a board member in April, says he is due a "substantial amount of money" from the group.
Pickering still hopes to organise a convoy of small hauliers to 10 Downing Street to protest about low rates (CM23-29July).
Unit 91 — the history Feb 1991: Pickering founds Unit 91.
April 1991: More than 70 attend launch meeting. May 1992: Pickering is sacked but reinstated. August 1992 Lack of funds leads to closure of office.