It’s the end of the road for Ireland’s Target Express
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By Chris Druce
TARGET EXPRESS, one of the largest privately owned hauliers in Ireland and Northern Ireland, has ceased trading.
College Freight Services (NI), which trades as Target Express, was set up by directors Seamus and Ann McBrien in 1988, trading from a site in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. An Irish arm, College Freight, was established in 1997 at Damastown Business Park, Dublin.
Seamus told Ireland’s NewsTalk radio station that Target Express’s fate was sealed last week (23 August) when Ireland’s Revenue department froze the firm’s bank account due to an unpaid debt.
Seamus claimed that the €50m turnover (£39.7m) firm had paid about €1m to the Revenue in the past six to eight weeks. He added that the profitable company had essentially been forced to cease trading over an outstanding €80,000 debt and was given “no leeway” by the Revenue. He also claimed the business would have been “all clear” by the end of September.
A Revenue spokeswoman says it can’t comment on individual cases, but adds: “We want to help viable businesses and taxpayers who want to pay their taxes but can’t in the short term. We can, and do, put alternative payment arrangements in place to help customers through difficult periods.
“But businesses and individuals must engage with us at the earliest possible opportunity and this must be realistic. Revenue is not a lender of last resort.” Target Express had 12 depots, four of which were in the UK, and employed close to 400 people – 300 in Ireland and 100 in the UK. The company had sites in Telford and Manchester, with combined O-licence authorisations for 14 vehicles and seven trailers. Annual turnover in the year ended 31 December 2010 was £13.3m (up 9.1%), with pre-tax profit down 41.6% year-on-year at £28,242.