1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
Over 300 jobs lost at Harrier Logistics
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Although its MD promised a return to profitability, it appears the curtain has finally come down on Harrier Logistics. David Harris reports.
HARRIER LOGISTICS. the firm set up to rescue failed whitegoods delivery firm Fiege Merlin. has gone into administration.
More than 300 of 420 staff at the Milton Keynes-based firm have been laid off by administrators. Harrier was created by former Merlin boss Richard Morris and bought Fiege Merlin's assets back in October (CM 27 October 2005). Mon-is promised to concentrate on the firm's key home-delivery business and return it to profitability. But it seems the firm lost a number of contracts and had been struggling to stay solvent for several months.
Demands from subcontractors seem to have pushed the firm over the edge: they were owed 1250,000 and wanted payment before doing more work for Harner.
Administrator Richard Hawes, partner at Grant Thornton. says: -We looked at whether we could keep the company trading and find a buyer. hut the cost of doing so would have put the company in an even worse position." He adds: "We haven't yet worked out how much the company owes but there will be substantial liabilities to subcontractors" Annualised turnover had dropped from (.22m when it was bought last October to an estimated £13m when Grant Thornton moved in lastTuealay.
The company was running 65 7.5-ton ners. each with a driver and mate. All its other haulage needs were subcontracted.
Most of the staff retained are working on a contract that is due to be taken over by another operator, and they will transfer to that firm under th,:Ii TPE regulations.