Wronged workers wait 20 years for shares money

for nine years until 2001, said: “We received a pittance when Roadchef were sold. We have no idea how much the shares we were meant to have were really worth but possibly up to nine times as much as some of us got.

“We were awarded compensation for the shares belonging to employees that Tim Ingram Hill sold but we still haven’t seen a penny of that.

“As far as I’m concerned, that should have been distributed and the £10million should be a separate issue.

“There are people who have died and others are in their late 70s now – are they ever going to see any of it?”

SNP MP Neil Gray, who is representing the Harthill workers, told a Westminster debate in December: “Patrick Gee died before the scheme could be fully realised and Tim Ingram Hill took over.

“He then transferred the shares that Mr Gee was making available to employees into a second employee benefit scheme, of which he was the only beneficiary.”

HMRC initially decided they would allow REBTL to distribute the money recovered from Ingram Hill tax-free. But when the trust indicated they would attempt to recoup the £10million, they backtracked on that decision.

A submission to the Treasury sub-committee from REBTL said: “This is not about tax.

“REBTL were not taxpayers but the victims of a breach of trust. Yet HMRC should have the discretion to repay monies to their rightful owner, to right a wrong.

“To not do so would mean that HMRC are enriched at the expense of the trust and their beneficiaries, who continue to be deprived of this money.”

A statement from the sub-committee read: “We will examine whether HMRC’s approach to conducting tax enquiries, resolving tax disputes and determining the amount of tax to be paid meets standards.”