Legal threat over training gear auction
MOTHBALLED APPRENTICE SERVICE HALTS SELL-OFF OF ITS EQUIPMENT
THE threat of legal action has forced the suspension of a lucrative auction of equipment inside a mothballed training centre.
A behind the scenes boardroom battle has been going on to try to save Brighouse based Kirkdale Industrial Training Services (KITS).
KITS - a well respected apprenticeship centre closed out of the blue on June 31, blaming “a number of significant impacts on business”.
An insider told YorkshireLive that coronavirus was to blame and claimed the centre was ‘haemorrhaging’ cash.
But a source close to moves to save it revealed KITS had £2.2m in the bank and said no business should fold with that level of savings.
They said the business’s closure and the auction had been done without the approval of the member companies.
A week on and the bid to halt the auction of KITS’ assets and facilities has been successful following threats of litigation.
A source said lawyers had written to KITS’ board reminding them of their responsibilities to consult their own stakeholders.
And they said they hoped it could now be saved and re-opened next summer.
Said the source: “All of this couldn’t have happened at a worse time with GCSE results out on Thursday, but members have now saved KITS from its disastrous auction.
“Lawyers advised the (KITS) board that it would be a wise thing to do (to suspend the auction).
IYA home delivery “Selling that stuff in this climate would have been terrible. Now the auction has been stopped the business needs to agree the next steps for KITS. That’s really important because a lot of apprentices have been let down. We’ve got to regroup now and get it back to what it was. We’ll try and re-open it in July/August next year.
“In the meantime we will support apprentices the best we can.”
All of this couldn’t have
happened at a worse time with GCSE results
out on Thursday