Goole failure caused by valuation mistake

The port and stevedoring agency Scotline Terminal Goole (STG) was forced into liquidation – just a few weeks short of receiving notification that in fact they did not owe the total £701,000 in backdated rates, with the real bill being less than one sixth of the amount, at just £115,000.

“A good viable business has been destroyed and people made redundant by incompetence and the government’s arrogant attitude,” said Mr Millatt. He went on to explain that the company put in an appeal in January 2009, but East Riding Council were forced by the government to try to collect and issued a (partial) bill of £200,000 on February 8.

“The company had no way to pay, so we had to make the decision to make the 10 staff redundant and shut down, with ABP tearing up their agreement with STG on March 3,” he said, adding that if the company had received a recalculated bill for the true amount about a month earlier, this probably wouldn’t have happened.

However, he says he is worried that the same situation may be about to be replayed with many other UK companies. “The government is steamrollering small businesses,” he says.

“We were told to just pay up and wait for a refund if due – but what the Valuation Office doesn’t appear to understand is that even given time to pay, a bill like this still forces a company into technical insolvency.” Which of course leads to the directors becoming personally liable and losing their limited liability.

The rates bills have been a controversial subject for many port operations who found out they were being stung for three year’s worth of backdated rates bills in 2007, but Goole was the first port operation to go under as a result of the move – however Mr Millatt suspects there will be other casualties, “The really sad thing is, we are only at the beginning of it,” he said.