Haulage business resorts to pre-pack administration

A crippling tax bill has driven a Cambridgeshire haulage firm into a pre-pack administration deal.

Wisbech-based Heathcliff Haulage was put up for sale in April after the pursuit of unpaid debts by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) left it with no other option. The search for a buyer, however, was unsuccessful.

Neil Bennett and Michael Healy of Leonard Curtis had been appointed joint administrators in May and oversaw the purchase of company assets by Noel-Storr Limited. These assets included the company name and the new business has now been officially re-registered as Heathcliff Haulage.

A spokesman for Noel-Storr explained, "The reason for doing a pre-pack deal was to ensure we could save all 48 jobs. There are only about five creditors listed, with the majority owed less than £2,000 each. However the biggest creditor was HMRC, and there was no way we could pay it in the timescale required."

The firm has an O-licence for 34 vehicles and 20 trailers and lost revenue when a number of key customers were lost during 2009.

A spokeswoman for the administrators said the undisclosed sum owed to HMRC was insurmountable and that they were currently involved in an ongoing process of dealing with the aftermath of the debts.

Share this article

Latest Businesses for Sale

View more businesses for sale