Credit crunch plunges Carlisle firm Just Vans into administration
Last updated 17:47, Saturday, 04 October 2008
A Cumbrian motors boss has seen his business forced to the brink after the credit crunch wiped millions off the value of its stock.
Just Vans Self Drive Limited, which supplies vehicles to some of the county’s biggest businesses, has been placed into administration while owner Richard Dixon attempts to strike deals to keep it afloat.
Mr Dixon said he has had to sell about half of his £25m-worth of assets since May after the collapse in the car sales market.
The 43-year-old businessman who lives at Warwick Bridge admitted that some of the vehicles he has sold could be repossessed from their new owners because he still owes money on them, but he said he was confident this would not happen.
Just Vans, based at Cotehill, and Mr Dixon’s London car hire company Just Prestige, continue to trade and have not made anyone redundant. He told the News & Star: “We are trying to trade through this and I am hopeful there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“At this moment in time nothing like that (vehicle repossession) is happening.
“The finance companies are securing their positions, looking through their figures to see what their next move is.
“Hopefully if two or three agree to come to the table, the others will follow.
“I am hopeful that if we all work together we can get through this.
“Like every company in the country we are suffering a fall in the value of our assets.”
Andrew Poxon and John Titley, of Bury insolvency specialists Leonard Curtis, have been appointed as joint administrators.
Mr Poxon refused a request to talk about the case.
Just Vans has in the past supplied vehicles to companies including the Story group and builders McKnight.
The firm was formed in 1995 to sell and hire vehicles to businesses and individuals throughout the UK.
