Are the DVLA selling your commercial vehicle details to cowboy parking firms? Plus hauliers collapse into administration due to Covid-19
With a drop in retail footfall there has been a fall in the number of haulage contracts to ferry in goods to high street traders. It is one of the knock on effects of Covid-19 which has led to financial difficulties for some haulage companies.
Ian Carrotte said there had been a string of casualties this year due to the pandemic but many of the hauliers going bust had historic debt which could no longer be serviced.
“Anecdotally we have heard from members of ICSM Credit that some hauliers have been switching to vans to use in the home delivery industry,” he said, “we’ve also noticed increasing nervousness in the haulage industry over the approaching deadline for the Brexit deal with the news of the Kent Access Permit leading to more uncertainty within the industry.”
DVLA challenged
Writing in the trade publication Motor Transport Chris Tindall has reported on an Essex haulier who suspects something rotten in the state of the DVLA.
He wrote: “KBC Logistics said it had complained to the licensing agency for ‘misuse of keeper data’ as it receives around six letters a day from parking firms claiming it owes them money. The company refused to back down when UK Car Park Management attempted to take legal action over an unpaid £60 PCN.”
ICSM Credit ran the story earlier this year as many companies and members of the public have been stung by cowboy parking firms who send out bogus demands for payment.
“KBS Logistics couldn’t believe the amount of demands they were getting,” said Ian Carrotte, “and the most obvious source of the information that firms were getting was from Swansea.”
Now KBS has contacted the DVLA to demand an explanation. The haulier’s MD was reported by Chris Tindall as having said: “For the last two years I have received several hundred letters from these companies and associated collection agencies threatening action for the unpaid penalties, the oldest one being June 2017. The amount of correspondence is ridiculous.”
A DVLA spokesman said in a statement: "We are writing to the customer with regards to his concerns and the specific issues mentioned in the letter."
Truckfast Truckserve liquidated
Motor Transport have reported that the Dartford-based independent HGV rental company Truckfast Truckserve is being wound up after liquidators were appointed to the firm.
The trade publication said: “Incorporated six years ago, Truckfast specialised in contract hire, rental and leasing of heavy commercial vehicles. Its fleet included 6x2 tractor units; 8x4 tippers; skip loaders; flatbeds and curtainsiders. The last available set of accounts, for the year ending 31 August 2019, showed that the company possessed fixed assets of £746,500. Following a virtual meeting of creditors on 28 September, a resolution was passed for the business to be wound up voluntarily and Philippa Smith at Smith & Barnes insolvency practitioners was appointed as liquidator. Smith & Barnes did not respond as we went to press and Truckfast director David Allon did not return our calls.”
More hauliers go bust
In September Roanza, the Mercedes truck dealer entered administration after trading in the red and losing money for several years according to insolvency practitioners Jason Bell and Sarah O’Toole at Grant Thornton. The firm collapsed with losses of more than a million pounds and 441 staff losing their jobs.
In Gloucester the courier firm Lima logistics went bust but earlier this month John Dinman Transport bought the assets and business of the company. Motor Transport’s Chris Tindall reported: “The Pall-Ex member company appointed insolvency experts at Quantuma Advisory on 22 September after it became the latest victim of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lima Logistics, which was formed in 2015, is based on the Churcham business park, but owner John Dinham confirmed to motortransport.co.uk that it had purchased the business and intended to relocate the business by the end of next week.”
And finally it’s been reported that Cartwright Conversions, a subsidiary of the Cartwright Group in administration, has been sold to Sheffield-based Trek Group in a £4.8m deal. Chris Tindall said that the former staff who lost their jobs when the business entered administration are pursuing legal action after alleging that it failed to properly consult them.
Ian Carrotte said: “Businesses collapse even in the best of times when credit is easy and the economy is flying. But there’s no doubt the effects of the Government’s actions in tackling the Covid-19 crisis has forced many firms into liquidation. We will look back at some stage and realise that perhaps there could have been a better way to protect the economy as they have in Sweden.”
About ICSM Credit
ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.
For details about ICSM Credit call 0844 854 1850 or visit the website www.icsmcredit.com or email Ian at Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com on how to subscribe and to join the UK’s credit intelligence network to avoid bad debts and late payers. Follow ICSM Credit on FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube and Ian Carrotte on LinkedIn.
To keep up to date subscribe to the FREE ICSM Credit Newsletter to hear all the latest insolvency news and to see who has gone out of business click on the orange panel on the top left of the home page of the website www.icsmcredit.com or send an email to Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com
For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk