HAULIER GOES UNDER AFTER 30 YEARS OF TRADING
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A Berkshire haulier says “extreme trading conditions”, which resulted in him losing four major contracts to operators who undercut him, spelt the end of the business he built up with his father.
Mike Horwood, of Maidenhead-based Mike Horwoods Transport, appointed liquidators on 5 October. He had only recently been released from prison after police discovered cannabis being grown in a warehouse he had sub-let to a third party.
Horwood insists he was unaware it was being used for this purpose; however, it was the loss of haulage contracts with big names such as GlaxoSmithKline that he says led to the demise of the firm he started with his father more than 30 years ago.
“I have lost four major contracts purely down to companies undercutting the rate,” he says. “The job’s finished. I didn’t want to put it in voluntary liquidation, but my hand was forced.” Liquidator Valentine & Co estimates that creditors are owed in the region of £324,000, with £164,000 owed to HM Revenue & Customs, and £33,500 to Horwood.