Britishvolt buyer faces winding-up petition

THE company that promised to buy collapsed UK gigafactory Britishvolt has been hit with a winding-up petition as creditors chase it for unpaid wages and other monies owed.

Recharge Industries UK, led by Australian entrepreneur David Collard, was issued with a winding-up demand by Tom Cowling, a former board member at Britishvolt and its chief governance officer, court records show.

Mr Cowling spent two years at Britishvolt, leaving in August last year, according to his Linkedin profile. He declined to comment. Details of the winding-up petition were not publicly available.

It is the latest legal action against Recharge, which promised to buy the assets of Britishvolt out of administration and revive the project but has struggled to follow through.

Administrators EY said in February that the prospective buyer remained “in default of the business sale agreement” and has yet to pay the full £8.75m owed under the deal. Work on developing the site has remained in limbo.

Two employment tribunal judgments, seen by The Telegraph, show Recharge was ordered to pay a total of £240,000 to two former senior employees for “unlawfully” failing to pay wages. In each case, Recharge failed to file a response, the judgments said.

Among those owed money were Timon Orlob, its former chief commercial officer. He declined to comment on the judgment.

Britishvolt had hoped to build a £3.8bn battery plant in the North East, near Blyth, creating thousands of jobs.

However, it collapsed into administration last year.

Mr Collard has launched technology businesses around the world, including Recharge and Scale Facilitation, which is based in the World Trade Centre in New York.

Employees at its New York-based business last year launched a class action claim against the company, accusing it of not paying their wages. Lawyers for Scale Facilitation insist they have been “fully compensated”, according to US court filings.

Last month, assault charges against Mr Collard were dismissed in New York after he attended anger management classes. He had said he was acting in self-defence while attempting to protect a female friend.

Recharge and Scale Facilitation did not respond to requests for comment.