Local firm goes out of business just 18 months after move to purpose built showroom.
MKFM received the following statement,
"It is with regret that late last week we had to close Saxon Bridge Car Superstore, part of Saxon Bridge Automotive Ltd and apply to put the company into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation.
This came very suddenly to us, and although we had been struggling for the last couple of months and trying to restructure the company's finances, partly due to the current economic climate, Brexit and a slow period of trading, funders were unable to support any further and withdrew their funding facilities. This happened Wednesday morning and by Thursday night the stock had been removed. It all happened over 48 hours and myself, my family and our staff were as surprised as we were. Hence no announcement until today as we had to seek advice in a situation neither Saxon Bridge or myself have ever been in.
My staff stayed until the very end, not knowing if they were going to get paid, trying to resolve getting customers cars back from our workshop and deliver the cars that had been sold before our funders withdrew. Sadly, 47 of the most loyal, hard working people lost their jobs. Our management team have been working tirelessly to seek alternative employment which we have achieved for many of them.
Any finance settlements that have not been met will be dealt with in the next couple of days by our advisors. We are also trying to work on a resolution with another business in Milton Keynes to cover the service plans customers have paid for but in the meantime would advise them to cancel their direct debits as Saxon Bridge has no way of stopping them.
To quash a few rumours on social media;
-the managing director does not own a sports car and is definitely not flying off to the Bahamas, he is at home explaining to his wife and two young children they are about to lose everything including their home
-we did not repossess 17 cars in the middle of the night. Two were taken by a leasing supplier, who had no legal right to do so, and they also left Paperwork insinuating Saxon Bridge had done this. This is simply not the case and we have never repossessed any vehicle, ever
-any payments taken for vehicles where customers had taken out finance but not received the cars will be dealt with by the finance company involved, and anyone that has paid any money toward a vehicle will be resolved in due course when the liquidators deal with the funding companies involved to resolve title issues
We were a family run company, employing local people for the last 12 years. Unfortunately, like so many companies this year, we have failed. We have done everything we can to pay our staff and local small businesses before closing and will work tirelessly until everything is resolved to the very best of our ability
We would like to thank our 14,000 customers we have sold cars to since 2007 and as a local family that have supported local employment, economy and charities in that time, ask you to bear with us why we resolve any outstanding issues
Any queries can be directed through our advisors whose details are listed below;
Mazars
Rebecca.dacre@mazars.co.uk
01908 664466"
