Subs slam extra time
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by David Graik • An established Scottish operator claims that Taylor Barnard is operating unofficial 90-day payment terms for its sub-contractors, despite its claims that it pays after 60.
Duncan Coulthard Senior, managing director of Dumfriesshire-based haulier Hayton Coulthard, says his company did "odd jobs" with Taylor Barnard when its trucks were in areas close to TB's depots. Payment claims for jobs in September and October last year, worth around £1,000, were still being chased in late January.
Coulthard refers to Taylor Barnard's slow payment as "a disgrace". "It is not too bad for an established company like ourselves," he says. "But this could be critical for an ownerdriver just starting out."
Coulthard says that Tremayne Johnson, transport manager at Taylor Barnard's Wellesbourne depot, has told him TB's payment terms are 90 days.
Sub-contractor Nigel Deacon, who runs Westbourne Services of Worcestershire, confirms that Johnson told him payment was "both 60 and 90 days".
Roy Simpson, a spokesman for Taylor Barnard, says it is quite clear that TB's payment terms are 60 days. He says the delay in payment to Coulthard was due to the need to clear up certain items and because TB was awaiting credit notes from Coulthard. The company has now been paid.
Deacon says that companies not paying for 90 days are "pushing small hauliers to the brink of business failure" and that the only way to increase rates is to stand together.