CALL FOR FIRM CONTROL
Page 11
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• Small businesses, including hauliers and owner-drivers, think it is too easy to set up a company and want action to cut the number of phoenix firms, a new survey reveals. According to the survey of 507 small companies conducted by finance firm Alex Lawrie Factors and the British Chamber of Commerce, 84% backed making it more difficult to set up a company.
The survey measured the views of firms with fewer than 100 employees. It also found that two thirds supported higher minimum financial standing for starting up.
The findings coincide with calls from the Road Haulage Association's director general Brian Colley to raise the minimum financial requirements to begin operating a truck business from £2,500 to E13,000 per vehicle (see new story, page 8).
The British Chamber of Commerce says laws protecting directors of failed companies are too easily abused, with firms going out of business one week, only to start trading as a different company the next. BCC policy officer Ian Fletcher says: "Although more directors are now getting disqualified it is only the tip of the iceberg. We don't want to make it harder for people to start up in business but the pendulum has swung too for and many companies being under financed."
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