Heroes who gave all for their country.. 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
Larc has been frozen since the collapse. A further £100,000-plus had not cleared.
James, 36, said of building up the firm: “We were extremely careful with the money side, paying ourselves very little so we could have a buffer. It took a while to learn how payments work, so we had to feel our way and did the right thing. “We agreed to go with the 120-day payment arrangement as it seemed to make sense. “As we had done in the military, we listened to Government advice and assurances. “Well, we listened to Carillion and the Government and have been let down, with no buffer to protect us.” Josh was a private with 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment in Helmand Province in 2007, badly injured in a “blue on blue” bombing by friendly US forces.
James, also a former private, served with 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment. He was one of the crack troops who supported the SAS in Operation Barras, a daring raid to rescue soldiers kidnapped by militants in Sierra Leone.
After six years James left the forces and went into construction, where he met Josh. They set up Larc, in Ashby, Leics.
One of the men they have had to lay off is Josh’s former corporal, Stu Parker, who also survived the Helmand bombing.
Josh, of St Neots, Cambs, said: “I am still in touch with a lot of my old mates from the battalion, people like Stu Parker.
“It is a great feeling to offer work to ex-military people, but this Carillion disaster may have stopped that.”
He added: “The human cost of this is enormous and the Government needs to do something to rescue the situation and quickly, maybe sort emergency loans out.”
Solicitor and armed forces campaigner Hilary Meredith said: “They are heroes and deserve better. I am appealing to Theresa May to sort this mess out.”
Three banks yesterday pledged a total of £225million to help small firms hit by the collapse. HSBC unveiled a £100million emergency fund for customers.
Lloyds launched a £50million support package and RBS is providing £75million via payment holidays and other means.
Of works on the hospital, the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The Government is doing everything possible to minimise the impact and, along with the hospital regulator, we will continue... to ensure there are plans in place to keep any construction delays to a minimum.”