The boss of a company that swooped in and took on all of Star Transport & Warehousing’s contracts, staff and customers when it collapsed into administration, has apologised “from the bottom of my heart” to anyone affected by its own collapse last September.
Joe Barnard told Motor Transport his ambition of changing the industry and improving standards had turned into a “heartbreaking experience”, which had ultimately affected his health and led to him being admitted to a mental health facility.
The haulage boss’ comments came after drivers of his company, Total Home Delivery, said they had been made redundant and with no explanation for what had happened other than the business was due to enter insolvency proceedings.
Barnard’s company, Total Home Delivery, an arm of Total Logistix, bought the vehicles, warehouse, goodwill and intellectual property of Norfolk-based Star Transport in June last year in a deal that cost £275,000.
Star was a company within the Bomfords Group and it had snapped up some of this business when it entered administration in 2023. However, Star did not fare any better and it succumbed to administration the following year.
In the subsequent pre-pack sale, Total Home Delivery took on 83 Star Transport staff and Barnard told MT he intended to give them a pay increase and ensure no-one was left out of pocket.
According to administrator Kroll, Total paid £75,000 on completion of the pre-pack deal, with a further £75,000 due by 22 July 2024. The remaining £125,000 was due in 10 monthly instalments from August onwards.
But Barnard said that within months his company encountered significant financial problems when it lost an invoice discounting facility, which had a knock-on effect with its creditors:
“This put the business in a position that it could not pay suppliers for a short period of time and caused a ripple effect throughout the business,” Barnard said.
“We tried our best to refinance the business through a pre-pack; unfortunately, due to the size of the business it was a challenge that couldn’t be achieved in time.”
MT has seen letters sent by a company called Ipera, which provides advice and support to employees of insolvent businesses, to former staff of Total Home Delivery, stating that Begbies Traynor had pulled out of acting as administrator of the company, but offering no reason why this was the case.
Barnard claimed this happened without communication from the insolvency practitioner and said that it happened “following myself being admitted to a mental health facility following a nervous breakdown.
“A new administrator is now being appointed and staff will be contacted shortly.”
Barnard said: “I would like to write an open apology for anyone affected by the collapse of the business, the thought of families struggling and the effect that I know first-hand that financial issues can cause on mental health is something I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart.”
He added: “We set out to change the industry, bring working standards in-line with other industries and improve the standards of couriers across the UK and in the most part we succeeded, however unfortunately our journey was cut short.”
One former driver of the company estimated he was owed around £11,000 in redundancy, pay and holiday: “My biggest grudge is what I am owed and what other people are owed,” he said.
“I feel let down; even more so, when the administrator appeared to take over we were all working very hard to keep that business viable.
“It’s about the communication and how it was done and how three months’ later we are still trying to get all our money owed to us.
“We are still all in limbo.”
Begbies Traynor had not responded as we went to press.
