NORTON FACTORY PRODUCTION STOPS
NO REPORTS OF REDUNDANCIES YET AT COMPANY
has stopped at the Norton Motorcycles factory – but it is understood there have not been any redundancies as yet.
Concrete blocks are reported to have been placed at the entrances to the bike company’s headquarters in Castle Donington while administrators continue to look for a potential buyer.
It is understood shop floor workers there had continued completing bikes even after the administrators from accounting firm BDO were called in on January 29.
There were believed to be about 70 people working at the business at the time.
It is understood staff are still being paid.
Norton owner Stuart Garner is also understood to have been working with the administrators within the business until at least a few days ago.
It is understood that “four or five Aston Martins and a couple of Range Rovers” used by Mr Garner, were taken away from him as part of the assets of the business.
It comes as Labour MP Meg Hillier, who chairs Parliament’s public accounts committee, called for an investigation into the millions of pounds of government funding that had gone into the business in recent years.
Meanwhile the neighbouring Priest House Hotel, also owned by Mr Garner and also in administration, continues to be run by a chain called Legacy Hotels, while a buyer for that is sought.
One insider told the Mercury: “The factory is closed. They have put concrete bollards at all the entrances and exits.
“There is 24-hour security on all the gates and they are definitely not manufacturing at the moment.
“I presume they will be keeping the staff employed until they know what’s going on.
“It’s very serious what has happened to the business, and now MPs are getting involved and red faces are starting to appear.”
BDO were brought in by Norton’s bank Metro Bank three week’s after the bike firm was in the High Court’s Insolvency and Companies Court facing a winding up order over £300,000 of unpaid taxes to HMRC.
In a new statement, Lee Causer, BDO business restructuring partner, said: “As joint administrators, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that customers, staff and suppliers are supported through the administration process, as we seek the sale of the business and assets.
“We have had a significant volume of interest and are hopeful that a sale of Norton Motorcycles (UK) Ltd can be secured.”
Pension schemes related to Norton are also being investigated, separately to the administration proceedings. The Pensions Ombudsman has been looking into a complaint from 30 individuals, relating to three schemes which invested in the business.
Speaking on ITV news, Meg Hillier MP said she intends to write to the department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) and the Cabinet Office to ask for an inquiry into why the business failed after millions of pounds of government funding were poured into it. Four years ago, then Chancellor George Osbourne joined Mr Garner and local MP Andrew Bridgen on a tour of the north Leicestershire headquarters to announce a £4 million funding package to support Norton and 11 of its supply chain partners – and help create up to 600 full and part-time jobs and 200 apprenticeships.
More recently, the Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership provided a £750,000 loan to support construction of a new factory unit for Norton.
The factory is built, but stands empty and the LLEP joins the list of creditors.
Ms Hillier said: “I think there are really serious questions here.
“Obviously it’s impossible for anybody to have known everything that was going on with this failing company, and particularly the pension issues, but it does beg questions about why more taxpayers’ money was being put into a company that clearly had performance problems.”
Norton was founded in Birmingham in 1898 by James Lansdowne Norton, starting out as a manufacturer of “fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade”.
Mr Garner took over the brand in 2008 and brought its factory to Castle Donington, where it was hand building bikes such as the Commando 961 Cafe Racer, Dominator and V4RR, sold around the world.
Castle Donington parish and district Councillor Tony Saffell said the business, and Mr Garner – who lived in Donington Hall – were a big part of the local community.
He said: “As far as I know everything stopped in terms of production on February 11.
“Up until then I think they were still building bikes and the administrators were trying to complete some of the outstanding orders with the stock they still had.
“I know someone who has been interested in buying the Priest House, who has been to talk to the administrators at Donington Hall, and Stuart was still there, using his laptop to help.
“Stuart used to own four or five Aston Martins and a couple of Range Rovers, and I know all of them except a Range Rover were taken when the administrators came.”
The Mercury has tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr Garner.