TOM Vehicle collapsed with £71m of debts

TOM Vehicle Rental, the Lanarkshire-based car and van hire company, fell into administration with debts of more than £70 million.

More than 400 people were made redundant when TOM appointed administrators at Ernst & Young (EY) in March, citing challenging tradition conditions.

The firm had changed hands in late 2016 following a management buyout backed by Equistone Partners Europe, after which the new owners signalled their ambitions to expand further into the English market.

A statement of affairs filed by joint administrators Fiona Taylor and Colin Dempster at EY, available now at Companies House, shows that unsecured creditors are owed a total of £71.3m.

The company’s unsecured creditors include trade suppliers, with the report highlighting a hire purchase liability of nearly

Unsecured creditors are not certain to receive a dividend

£21.5m, believed to relate to the acquisition of vehicles for rental.

It has liabilities of around £27m in the form of inter-company loans, and owes HMRC nearly £4.3m.

The report estimates total assets of £2.7m will be available for preferential creditors, holders of floating charges and unsecured creditors. A spokeswoman for EY said it is “uncertain” whether unsecured creditors will receive a dividend.

Speaking when TOM Vehicle went into administration, Mr Dempster said: “The group has incurred operational difficulties and associated liquidity problems in recent years that reflect low utilisation of their rental vehicles, as a result of a competitive market, and changing customer preferences. Despite the best efforts to save the group, it could not continue to operate as a going concern”.