Heroes who gave all for theircountry.. betrayed by fatcats who care only for themselves

TWO war heroes are facing financial ruin after becoming the latest victims of the Carillion collapse.

Former soldiers Josh Lee and James Crisp have built up £1.3million-a-year Larc Construction over four years.

But they have lost more than £200,000 over Carillion’s failure, forcing them to lay off 15 workers including ex-comrades.

Dad-of-two Josh, 30, told the Mirror yesterday: “We have worked incredibly hard to build up this company and now we’ve had to lay people off.

“I have never felt so sick as I did on Monday when we told people we could no longer pay them because the money would not be coming in.

“It was a terrible feeling as we feel so responsible for people who work for us.”

He added: “Everyone talks about the thousands of workers affected by the Carillion crash and it’s terrible, but that could be just the beginning.

“If you look further you’ll find thou- sands more. Look at the sub-contracting firms like us who are threatened.”

Since the construction giant went into compulsory liquidation on Monday, Josh and James have been locked out of their site at Midlands Metropolitan Hospital, near Birmingham.

Tens of thousands of pounds of their own equipment is there, plus rented diggers costing them £14,000 a week.

Additionally Carillion had set 120-day payment terms. Under this, cash owed to Larc would be cleared and sit in an account for 120 days. Larc would have to pay a fee to draw it out before then.

Some £95,000 that was in holding for