More uncertainty has been raised over the fate of trucks and trailers belonging to collapsed Yorkshire haulier E Pawson & Son. Scania dealer Keltruck has already become embroiled in a row over one vehicle that it bought from the firm prior to entering administration, which had been refinanced with Clydesdale Bank before being sold on.
Now attention has switched to finance house Lombard, which held a chattels mortgage over a number of trucks, trailers and warehouse racking belonging to the firm. According to a list seen by Motor Transport, released by a third party, Lombard effectively owned some 24 tractor units and more than 50 of Pawson's trailers – in all they have submitted a proof of debt of £737,361 to administrators P&A Partnership.
However, according to the same documentation, 37 trailers and all the tractor units are listed as missing. Rebecca Ferguson, risk manager at Lombard Business Support, adds: "We have not managed to track many down." However, she declined to comment further, citing client confidentiality. Four of the directors of E Pawson – Rachel Slade, Michael, Stephen and Richard Pawson – have subsequently set up again, trading as Pawson Transport.
However, the new company has been called to public inquiry next Wednesday to consider its licence application. One objector to the application is Keltruck; in a letter to the North Eastern TC it states: "If the director or directors responsible for the purported sale(s) did not know that [a vehicle] was financed and did not trouble to ascertain the true position of their prime asset, it would suggest to us that they were falling short of the standards that might be expected of directors of a transport company."
Rachel Slade, a director of both E Pawson and Pawson Transport, declines to comment on either the Lombard or Keltruck issues. However, she adds: "We are a business that has been around for 80 years and some of the things that we discovered [on going into administration] were not pleasing to us."
Slade says the directors went to the police to inform them of their findings on the advice of their lawyers, but refuses to be drawn further. She adds: "I hope people will realise that we would not have been around all that time if we had been doing things wrong in the past."
Public inquiry
Pawson Transport’s public inquiry will take place on Wednesday 15 October at 10.30am at Castleford Civic Centre, Ferrybridge Road, Castleford, WF10 4JH. An inquiry into the licence held by Mill Transport will also be heard at the same time.
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