Gables' creditors hear of £2.8m debt
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by Derren Hayes
• Gables Group, the failed tipper and aggregate firm, ran up debts of nearly Om due to the recession and a string of business problems, a creditors meeting was told last week.
The Bishop Stortford, Hensbased operator was £2,642,651 in debt when it was wound up on 20 May 1996, costing the jobs of 34 drivers and 16 ownerdrivers (CM 24-29 May).
The company, formed in 1990 by the amalgamation of two haulage and aggregates firms, had 37 vehicles and was turning over more than £5m at the beginning of 1995.
Gables' collapse has left suppliers and employees owed £2,792,651; it also also owes £187,295 to preferential credi tors including the inland Revenue and Customs and Excise. Some money may be raised by reclaiming debts and selling off furniture, fittings and stock. This is only expected to be bring in £37,000 but the company is hoping to raise inure money from the sale of the ready mixed concrete plant it set up in 1995.
Problems with this plant, including a three-month delay before it became operational, were cited as factors in Gables' demise, as were cashflow problems caused by poor credit terms. It was also revealed the company had loaned its managing director Peter Crow around £62,500—a debt that is expected to go unpaid because Crow has no assets.