CREDITORS who believe they lost money when a long-running bus firm collapsed will put their cases to liquidators today.
Henderson Travel of Lanarkshire suddenly ceased trading on October 30 last year, leaving some 150 staff facing redundancy.
Most employees and all of the firm's subsidised bus contracts were subsequently transferred to McGill's.
It came just six months after the 30-year-old family firm was bought up by Staffordshire-based, Bakerbus Ltd, in a deal brokered by Coventry coach dealership, Kinglong Direct.
The Herald previously revealed that the directors behind Kinglong, Paul Bicknell and Ray McNally, both have criminal records. Bicknell was jailed for three years for swindling £220,000 from a previous employer to fund his gambling addiction, while sales director Ray McNally served seven years for organising a West Midlands cannabis ring.
Former Henderson Travel boss, John Henderson, will be among those present at a meeting organised by Glasgow insolvency practitioners, MLM Solutions, who have been handling the investigation into the bus firm's liquidation for the past six weeks.
Mr Henderson believes he may have lost up to £160,000, including more than £50,000 worth of garage and office equipment which vanished hours after the company went bust.
He said: "There was a wholesale looting of the depot. That's what I want to ask - where did it all go? Everything from Portakabins to fire extinguishers disappeared."
He added: "The new company never put enough working capital from day one."
McNally and Bicknell have said they were the ones left out of pocket.
Meanwhile, administrators for a Morecambe coach company blamed a lack of investment from Bakerbus and Kinglong Direct for it going bust.
Russell Cash, of administrators FRP Advisory, said Battersby Silver Grey had "failed to receive the investment it was promised when Bakerbus and Kinglong Direct became involved 15 months ago".
It comes after another bus firm linked to Kinglong suddenly ceased trading in December. Eddie Brown Tours Ltd was owned by Island Fortitude, the Barbados investment fund and parent company of Kinglong.
The offshore outfit also owns Oxfordshire-based Jeff's Travel, which was hauled before the Traffic Commissioner in December to answer allegations over its financial standing and faced criticism about "shadow directors".
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