Knights of Old staff win pay claim

The company was one of a group of firms that was hit by a ransomware attack and then entered administration a year ago.

Warwickshire law firm Nualaw represented some of the employees in a claim for their last month of pay, arguing that Knights of Old did not enter a consultation period when the haulier collapsed.

It confirmed with Motor Transport that last week (20 September) a court ruled in the employees’ favour: “Whilst the judge awarded the maximum of 90 days’ pay, the most the government will cover is eight weeks’ pay, at a maximum of £700 per week,” said a spokeswoman for the law firm.

“Any money claimed as arrears of pay at the time of dismissal will be deducted from this, meaning those who had to claim wages after their dismissals will receive a maximum of four weeks’ pay.”

Nualaw MD Nuala Toner said that in total there were 170 claimants, 80 of whom were represented by her firm.

“Whilst all of our claimants were successful, I’m in the very unusual position of not being able to confirm which other claims succeeded,” she said.

“The judgment was rather unusual in that the judge did not confirm which individual claims were successful, although this should become clear once we receive the written judgment.”

Toner also said that the judge ruled staff who entered a correctly pleaded claim and worked out of Knights of Old’s main sites at Kettering and Luton, as well as its smaller bases in Witham, Frating and Didcot, would all be successful.

She added that there were around 50 claimants who represented themselves: “Several of the litigants in person did not plead their claims correctly and whilst those who attended the hearing were allowed to amend their claims, several of those who did not attend were unsuccessful.”

Other firms in the KNP Logistics group included Nelson Distribution, Steve Porter Transport, and Merlin Supply Chain Solutions.

Kinaxia Logistics subsequently acquired the trade and assets of Nelson Distribution.