Two haulage firms near the south coast and operating out of the same premises with the same directors collapsed due to the fallout from Brexit, Covid and rising costs, their administrator said.
Poole Bay Warehousing and Three Legged Transport both entered administration in September, resulting in more than 40 jobs being made redundant after Leonard Curtis struggled to find any buyers for the Dorset firms.
In a report to creditors, the administrator said Poole Bay was incorporated in 2009 and it became a member of The Pallet Network (TPN) two years later, covering Bournemouth and Poole postcodes.
Three Legged Transport began trading in 2016 and traded out of the same premises as Poole Bay in Wimborne. It joined UPN in 2019 and expanded its postcode coverage with TPN a few years later.
Both companies held separate operator licences authorising 12 and 15 HGVs respectively and employed a total of 41 staff.
According to Leonard Curtis: “Since Brexit, the UK’s transport and distribution sector has been extremely challenging due to a shortage of drivers.
“However, despite this, the [companies] continued to trade successfully for many years, providing a range of storage and distribution services, servicing a large number of customers and regularly winning new work.”
It added that the hauliers’ trading was then further impacted by the pandemic and the restrictions that were imposed and, with the departure of many lorry drivers from Eastern Europe, it created a “severe labour deficit”, which led to high wage inflation as operators fought over staff.
“Due to current global instability there has been a considerable rise, in a short period of time, in fuel and power costs,” the administrator said.
“The continuing rise in operational costs led to the [companies’] cashflow becoming tight, which was worsened further by the impact on rising costs in sustainability, eg the HGV levy and clean air charges.”
The directors of both firms, Rennick McGowan and Anthony Squires, decided in 2024 to take a step back due to personal circumstances and new chief executive Hamish Cassels was appointed.
However, the financial strain continued unabated and despite both firms taking on sales staff to approach potential clients, they struggled in a fiercely competitive sector.
“Following our appointment, trading ceased immediately and all staff were made redundant,” Leonard Curtis added.
The administrator had not responded to our requests for comment as we went to press.
