Full statement on LSUK closure by Euro Car Parts
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 07 October 2008
The following is a statement from Euro Car Parts on putting LSUK into administration:
After a considerable amount of non-stop work and investment into LSUK over the past 5 days, the Euro Car Parts directors realised that they had no option but to place LSUK into administration with effect from Monday 6th October 2008.
This includes all 53 LSUK Branches, including MI Diesel Products, Protech Automotive (UK) and Yeovil Rewind.
The initial acquisition of LSUK had to be made very quickly to protect the 600 strong staff. The due salaries and rent were therefore paid with immediate effect.
The Euro Car Parts management team specifically chosen to look after LSUK then worked tirelessly speaking to the LSUK suppliers and indeed staff.
Unfortunately, it became clear, very quickly, that it was simply going to be impossible to continue with investment without the required support, which was not forthcoming.
With this in mind, Euro Car Parts have placed the acquisition company, ECP Logistics Limited (set up only for the acquisition of Pinco 1555 Ltd, known more commonly as LSUK and totally separate to Euro Car Parts Limited) into the hands of Tenon Recovery.
Tenon are leading insolvency advisors, and they have been appointed to manage the administration.
A free phone number has already been set up by the administrators for the current LSUK staff and they will be told what they need to do and everything will be done to help and advise them with regards to the situation.
Euro Car Parts deeply regrets what has happened, but to continue any longer with LSUK, as it currently stands, was unfortunately a futile operation.
The administrators are already in contact with several interested parties.
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This was the plan from the start. Strip assets and take the accounts i.e. AA contract. Wipe out debt owed to supplies and take the Good part of the business which is the Diesel workshops to do there remanufacture work. So all the deadwood will be gone and anything-worthwhile keeping will be kept. You can blame bad management at Sheffield for this…
´After a considerable amount of non-stop work and investment into LSUK over the past 5 days´ ... yeah, 5 days to strip out assets a ´steal´ parts that had not been paid for. Criminal investigation is surely required.
I call is day light robery, and we small suppliers can do nothing. They will take the AA contract and now screwup all the AA members. All million´s of them
Quote:
After a considerable amount of non-stop work and investment into LSUK over the past 5 days, the Euro Car Parts directors realised that they had no option but to place LSUK into administration with effect from Monday 6th October 2008.
UNQUOTE
Why were the bloody locks changed on Saturday 04th October then????
An investigation must be carried out. Too many reports of computers and stock going missing, suppliers left with nothing to claw back and shells of buildings left to the ravages of liquidators/administrators (barring personal possesions and employees tools etc). What self respecting company in this day and age would allow such a thing - They have structures, management and responsibilities - They above all would be aware of right and wrong. They are big enough to have seen LSUK through a piffling £150k to 200k shortfall in annual accounts- If they couldn´t, why buy a known loss making firm in the first instance?
I left 3 years ago and joined a far more honourable company than ECP. I still have many friends at LSUK who until this weekend´s events, wrongly believed their futures were assured.LSUK was acquired purely for the AA contract and other high profile National Account business.It was then raped of any assets and then dumped.My thoughts go those LSUK employees and I firmly believe that there needs to be an investigation and that the hierachy of both companies need to take the blame...and not buck pass...I hope you sleep soundly....
no wonder lsuk, aka pinco 1555, went under have you seen the manangement and staff, particularly at kilmarnock, western road,
all the male staff think ther gods gift to women, female staff think every man who walks in fancies them
Euro Car Parts have absolutely no regard for the people they have devastated in the pillage of the LSUK infrastucture, given that the day after they took over the business it was demanded that full sets of keys were to be sent to them for every branch without delay. They now have all they wanted in terms of the records required for all of the major contracts serviced by LSUK & the support centre staff at Sheffield who know how it all works.Sadly they appear on paper to have done this legally.
I have been made redundant by one of your suppliers as a direct result of your actions- I have one child and another due in December - thankyou so much.
who did yah work with mate as a matter of intrest ?
Also the freephone number is a load of bo***cks cos it doesnt get answered. We had been critisised for not answering the phone quick enough but at least we answered it!! Did you spare a thought for the hundreds of people you would have put out of a job? Probably not cos your eyes were on the cash bonus for closing us down. He got lsuk´s national accounts and the AA account and royally f***ed us over.
I tried to call the receivers Tennon uk, 15 times this week to discuss buying lsuk, but i still havent had a call back. Tennon are also the company that audited Pincos accounts, so no doubt they are trying to cover their own arses, as i suspect those accounts (especially the stock audit) are a million miles from the truth. I wonder what eurocarparts paid pinco1555 receivers for the business in the 1st place.
message to interested party-
if you bought the company, what would you do with it? as in, would you keep it as a parts company and would staff get their jobs back?
that last statment about sums it up !
utter nonsense !
anyway thats the washing and ironing done !
i´ve just had me testicals removed on the NHS and thats nothing euro car parts have done to us!
I really feel for the staff of LSUK (not the Managers).
I was a LSUK/Globe & Simpson/and another employer previous to them member of staff, so I know what I´m talking about.
Whoever bought lsuk knew they would shut it down during the week after purchase because the asked for the keys and alarm codes for all the branches towards the end of the week. What a superb operation to get to every branch in the country after close of work on Saturday, disable Alarms and change locks where necessary then stick pre printed letters on the doors.
I heard former management have got together and put in a bid does anyone know if this is true? If so could it be too late as contracts are being lost very fast.
I feel so sorry for all employees of lsuk!! I buy alot of parts from ecp.. BUT REST ASSURED.. NO MORE!!!
just want the ecp group to know sleeping at night is a problem now for 680 staff from lsuk mr singh hope you have nightmares same goes for you side kicks
i am an unemployed LSUk branch manager and i feel like a complete plank. i, like everyone else fell for all the bullshit and went along with all the requests that came from ecp.
i have spoken to the manager of the local ecp and he has quite blatantly boasted to me that he is visiting LSUK national accounts this week. wot a fool i feel today as i am sat here looking at the jobcentre website.
The fat cats have done it again.
Know the fight for LSUK is lost but what about the long time servers?
I know this has hurt every employee (regardless of years service) and my heart felt sympathy to you all.
What happened though to the years worth of pensions placed into the business?? I do believe there is a law protecting them and intend to dig further as my family member paid in for 20 years and if i´m not mistaken that money - at least the amount paid in should be protected. i now intend to start digging and any help would be much appreciated. Keep your chins up people and shout at the same time - together we are louder and someone has got to hear!!!
it makes me sick that i thought that we all were fooled by ecp, we (ex lsuk employees) get together outside ecps head office in protest to what they have done to us, our chrismas will be ruined for the greed of, an already wealthy company
The blame lyes clearly with LSUK senior management who have done little but line their own pockets for the past 5 years.
I have a lot of factual information on this situation and having read the comments from the so called suppliers here, you are either misinformed or liars. All goods are being returned to suppliers. If you don´t beleive me ring Mark Sweetman from Sealey on 07799473106 or Andy from Exide on 07827242424 or Neil Davies from FPS on 07710012455 or Keith Moxham UKPA on 07713 877088.
For your information the ´AA´ contract has gone to Unipart not ECP..
The Computers that have been mentioned are in the hands of the Administrator Tenon. Call Paul Ellison 07967 471211
Re Interested party, If yo are successful I am a Fuel Injection specialist ready and willing to help in any way I can Give me a contact no when ready.
What I would like to know what really happened?. Why did ECP pull out. They did pay our wages, if they didnt really want us why did they do that? Come on ECP tell us the truth
Thank you Mr.Singh
good luck all you guys from LSUK, especially Paul, Andy and the others from Reading. Fingers up to ECP as we´ve gone back to Unipart from today.
LSUK Headoffice, here´s what I know is fact. After the withdrawal of all financial support for LSUK by both it´s former investors and the bank, the business was set to go into Administration on Sunday (the day before the payroll). In a last ditch attempt the bank contacted any possible interested parties, however stated that any purchase would have to be completed inside 4 days otherwise the business would be put into administration. ECP were the only interested party, and the only people with the available funds who were prepared to purchase the business on face value only and incredibly do no due diligence. Sukhpal took the word of the LSUK Directors that they could rally the suppliers, staff and customers and could get the business rolling again. All monies were transferred on Sunday night including the £1.2M payroll.
When the dust settled on Monday morning 22 senior ECP Managers finally got to see what they had bought. This is the point that clearly all was not as it seemed. The valuations were incorrect, many suppliers refused to supply the new LSUK-ECP business, the LSUK Directors started to fight amongst themselves and began hindering the whole process.
ECP were banking on the support of the both the senior management team and the LSUK suppliers. ECP had no available senior managers within it´s own business, and anyway truly wanted to run LSUK as a going concern with the existing teams in place.
After just 4 days it became apparent that what ECP had purchased, was not what they got and the promised support from the LSUK management team and from suppliers was just not going to happen. Having already paid out millions, ECP was left with no alternative but to place LSUK back into administration.
Take my word on this, ECP will loose millions and make nothing.
All stock is currently being collected by suppliers, all technicians equipment is available for collection tomorrow. ECP are buying no part of this business from the administrators.
and that´s what really happened..
Best of luck in gaining employment to the many great people who worked at LSUK - It was fun (Sometimes) ;)
The only thing worthwhile keeping was Hastings branch and maybe Manchester/Cardiff. Kilmarnock was a complete joke and Ipswich, Norwich, Medway plus others barely made enough money to pay the wages each month. If any investor are interested it would probably be worth buying Hasting as a standalone business as the building is owned not leased and they currently have Two Bosch 815 and an AVM2 test benches, one set up for common rail sitting in the Diesel workshop along with other diagnostic equipment.
Well is this a repeat of the Finelist fiasco out of which PINCO were born by a managemanet buyout?
I was caught then for £2000 Plus but learnt from this and stopped persuing LSUK business.
I am sorry for the skilled staff that have been loyal to the out fit and worried for some time about what has now come to pass.
When I was asked to give prices fixed for 90 Days earlier this year I took heed.
the reason some branches did not make money is tha the managers tried to run the branch like a motor factors our old branch would sometimes take a guy of the shop floor to deliver a set of plugs twenty miles away and on at least one occasion the three parts vans all turned up at ataxi company one van had the plugs one had the oil filter one the battery brain dead or what
all the best for the future to staff from the derby branch , sorry to see you become the victims of circumstance in this way.
tunbridge wells where brilliant.very sad to see them go.how did lsuk get in so much £ trouble?
I think Ex Member of staff should get his facts right. Manchester very profitable, Cardiff has always been profitable, Kilmarnock and Ipswich both returning a respectable level of profit, Norwich still in losses but greatly improved since last year. Medway very profitable and was going from strength to strength. Hastings while profitable came nowhere near Medway, Manchester or Cardiff. I suggest people who don´t know anything should say nothing
I hold my head in total shock horror ... Yes we knew things on the 'Ranch' weren´t 'Right' BUT at least (or so it seemed to me) everyone to a person, tried their DAMNEDEST for the Customer.No one else matters in this or any other business. R.I.P L.S.U.K. ... Gods speed to all their loyal Staff Tony, TWAutos Wirral.
Just seen a report on Look North about job losses in the region. They say the reason for the job losses at LS UK was simple - people just aren´t buying cars anymore. What rubbish. If vehicles are being kept on the road longer, that is where companies like LS UK come into their own. Should always have had an advantage over companies like ECP which are basically box pushers, with the service LS UK could and should have offered. And why they didn´t develop the turbocharger side of the business more is beyond me, would have been an excellent complement to their diesel and fuel injection business, and is definitely a growth market. Could and should have left ECP standing in that respect. If I could raise the investment I´d buy LS UK myself and go down that road. There isn´t a single company better placed to offer such a service, and look at what they have done to it. What a shame.
Just seen a report on Look North about job losses in the region. They said the reason LS UK had gone under was 'quite simple - people just aren´t buying cars anymore.' What rubbish. If cars are being kept on the road longer, that is where companies like LS UK come into their own. With the service they could and should have offered they should have left companies like ECP, who are basically no more than box pushers, miles behind. And with their expertise in diesel and fuel injection I cannot understand why they did not develop the turbocharger side of the business more, which is an excellent complement, and most definitely a growth business. Again in this they could have offered a service that companies like ECP would have found it impossible to match. If I had the investment I would buy LS UK myself and go down that road. They should have been leaders in the market, but just look what they have done to it. What a shame!
FIRST I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY I HATE ECP AND DID BEFORE THIS HAPPEND TO LSUK AND US AT PROTECH BUT I THINK ITS FAIR TO SAY LSUK ARE THE ONES TO REALLY BLAME FOR TAKING SO F****** LONG TO PUT THE WORD OUT TO INVESTERS YOU CANT EXPECT ANY BIG COMPANY TAKE OVER TO HAPPEN SO QUICK AND BE ALL OK IT TAKES WEEKS TO LOOK AT BOOKS AND RECORDS AND SEE WHAT YOUR REALLY GETTING INTO.
ECP PROBABLY WASTED NO TIME LOOKING AT DEBT AND FOCUSED ON WHAT IT COULD GAIN FROM LSUK NOT HELP IT!
BUT THE WHOLE THING HAS SEEMED TO BACKFIRE ON THEM RESULTING IN LOSS OF MONEY LOSS OF RESPECT AND A BIG LIST OF HATTERS TO ADD TO THEIR LIST.
AS FOR LSUK TOP DOGS BARR A SELECT FEW YOU F****** IDIOTS GETTING PAID TOO MUCH TO CARE ABOUT YOUR JOB AND THE PEOPLES LIFES YOU HAVE LET DOWN ALOT OF PEOPLE.
ANYWAY I HAVE HAD MY RANT NOW PROTECH MAY STILL HAVE A CHANCE WE MAKE GOOD MONEY BUT WE ARE ONLY A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE COULD NOT MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO MADE A BIG IMPACT ON LSUK DEBT I HOPE ALL YOU GUYS FROM THE BRANCHES FIND WORK AND ALL THOSE IN HEAD OFFICE THAT ACTUALLY DID WORK TO TRY AND SAVE IT DO TOO BEST OF LUCK.
P.S MR SINGH HOW DARE YOU PUT A SECURITY GUARD IN OUR BUILDING THAT CANT EVEN SPELL GUARD GOORD THATS WHAT NOTICE WE HAD ON THE DOOR ON MONDAY MORNING.
merc cls reg number SAD! it was a sad day on monday to see we were locked out.over 30 years with the company and what a way to find out. darke will be running around in his merc and what about his ex employees? we did the numbers and made the margins.so where did we go wrong?
good luck to all ex-lsuk workers,espcially luton aand south mims branches,and so glad i aa ant using ecpb.
if you are a skilled diesel technician give me a call. 01322-348238
Would be pleased to hear from any former UK/Protech employee.
rocketron@fsmail.net
if someone said to you, give me a cheque for 10 grand and i will give you one back for 20 grand in a week because i have the aa contract, would you do it? i would, but if i found a letter from the AA weeks old which advised you had lost the contract, would i cancel the cheque? damn right!, you have to take risks to make money, unlucky ECP this one cost you over 1 million!p.s. i worked for lsuk, i dont hold a grudge, its just business
Oh ! How the mighty have fallen and what a tragedy. From the time when just about everything that had Wheels had 'Lucas' ... to make those Wheels turn ... My sentiments have already been voiced by others here. The Automotive Industry has lost a 'Family Member', and we are all poorer for it. A truly sad Day. GOOD LUCK TO ALL EX-L.S.U.K. STAFF EXPECIALLY BILL, CHRIS AND DAVE´ AT LIVERPOOL BRANCH.
last time we went into receivership 6th oct 2000 we still traded, why arent we trading now, if we have interest parties looking at LSUK, surely it would be better to be trading?
thank you retired aa patrol and thank you to tipton who got it touch sat night to tell what was going on.i believe ex employees are turning up there on tuesday when gmtv is filming there
Firstly, I have to say it´s never pleasant to see people out of a job, and most of you have my genuine sympathy for that. But are you all so naive to think that the reason LSUK went is down to ECP?
As far as I can see had it not been for ECP you would have been in this situation on the 1st October, minus a months pay. There weren´t any funds available to pay the salaries and that´s the first thing ECP did, pay you!
I seriously think it´s about time you started to look a lot closer to home for where to lay the blame, don’t you? I know of at least half a dozen sites where guys were doing a grand a week on the side, and that´s not including after hours stuff. And you wondered why you were in the shit?
I have friends at ECP, and they have told me some of the stuff that they have encountered since they became involved, and some of you should be ashamed frankly! Do you have any idea how many of your old colleagues have taken to burglary over the last week or so? I don’t know about being given a forum to voice your anger or you opinions about the whole thing, some of you should be locked up!!
Do you really believe ECP bought LSUK with any intention other than making money? Its one of the most successful automotive outfits around, stevie wonder can see that. It bought LSUK to make money. And when it became clear that the only way that was ever going to happen was to find a fella with sandles and the ability to walk on water, they did the only thing they could.
As I said, I really do feel for the majority of the people on here, and around LSUK, but I´m not going to sit and watch while everybody pillories people that tried to help you.
There are those of you, and I´d wager it included some of the eloquent individuals who have left remarks on this thing, that should be hanging your heads in shame. Some of you have spent years raping this business and now have the audacity to tell everyone how hard done to you feel??
Someone told me that one of the regional guys did you for £50k while he was a branch manager, and then got promoted. Is that true, only I have friend involved in business awards and if I tell him about this I can make a killing in the best business practice category!!! Come on guys, this is common knowledge and yet you are all seemingly under the impression that LSUK was fine!!!
Why don’t you talk to some of the suppliers who are owed millions, the ones who mortgaged their businesses based on LSUK, ask them about hoping to find £100k worth of stock that should have been in the business and coming away with nothing???
ECP hasn´t removed or taken anything from this business, anything that has been taken off site has been done so at the request of the administrators, and has been stored on behalf of them. I have this on good authority and I have no reason to believe otherwise. The administrators asked for this to be done, not ECP, and they did this because they knew it wouldn’t be around for long!
Someone said they knew ECP had gone into this because they had planned it. Are you on crack? You think they wanted the properties? Most of these places weren´t worth anything when I knew them, so I reckon it´s probably £3 and a bag of peanuts territory today!
For 2201, I really and truly sympathise with you and your colleagues that have so many years service, I do. But hand on heart can you say you didn’t know the reason for the problems if you had been around that long??
Look, it’s a bit of rant as I think that ECP are unfairly getting the thick end of the stick, they quite clearly tried to salvage a failed business, failed, not failing, and couldn’t without risking the jobs of 2,000 other people. But, just to afford a right to reply, if anyone can prove me wrong or tell me otherwise, I will happily make a bare arsed apology at the venue of your choice, infront of the entire LSUK staff.
Somehow though , I don’t think my fair buttocks will be seeing the light of day anytime soon………….
well ecp, live by the sword, die by the sword. Why is it that its always the poor branch staff and reg managers that end up f***ed
to are you all really this deluded. the pay was 'fire walled'.nobody forced S.S to buy the business.if staff have stolen property should you not be telling the police.i am sorry for employees of ecp, a company i had never heard of before 29 of september.I am not stupid enough to realise we had problems,but we did not have a boss who spent 3 million pounds on a company he did not even check out !!!!!!
Having read all the comments I can see how folk are struggling to see which side of the arguement to side with. What I´d like to know is why it only took one day before we were asked to supply keys and alarm codes, surely a full investigation into the state of the business took more than one day!
Sure the lSUK directors left it too late and I´d agree that some of my collegues were less than honest...but some of us are good guys who worked hard, went in avery day, motivated our teams, practised best entrepreneurial skills and tried damned hard. My branch was miles ahead of budget and that wasn´t done without effort!
We deserve better.
How did LSUK manage to get into this state? Why did LSUK not have money?
Yes, what happened to lsuk´s money
Sorry to here that all the staff have lost there jobs.
from teekay - many thanks for saying it as it is and so well too, there are too many not so innocent ex staff mouthing off here. i can walk around with my head held high, i might not have a job but i have my self respect. as to what really happened when ecp bought lsuk we can only speculate, to those who were milking the company - you have only yourselves to blame for helping us all get into this situation!!!!
You can understand from ECP that they do have any respect to the individuals. Even when i go in for supplier meetings, the directors speak in their local langauge. Once i heard from a colleague that they were using abusive language against me.
all you ex lsuk diesel technicians.Have you all found work? If not give me a call on 01322-348238
can any old lusk oss or sparky get in touch many thanks
onsiteservicesuk@yahoo.co.uk
I´m sorry to hear about the downfall of LSUK. ECP have even lost the AA contract. This has been handed back to Unipart who looked after it before. Serves ECP right. I hope they are next to go.
While agreeing with most of what I´ve read in the comments, I notice there´s no mention of the ´ordinary bod´ customers anywhere. I bought a starter from the Chelmsford branch several weeks before the fold-up, had to get it replaced ´cos it was faulty and got told I would get a refund (£100ish) once the supplier (Hella) confirmed the fault. I got palmed off over the phone for nearly four weeks (´Hella always take ages etc, etc´) before hearing LSUK had gone down the tubes - if the staff have no chance of getting anything back, what the hell hope have I?
Sorry to see this happen
but what do I do I ask with the cars that are in bits awaiting the correct goods or warranty goods to be returned. Hope ECP are happy the small business is suffering now So I have to PAYOUT again THANKS.
Good luck to all those staff from 3408 branch PORTSMOUTH
The reason LS UK failed is because it was trying to save me the consistant £300 a time outlay on my Eberspecher heater now langushing in the Cambridge branch. Seriously, how do I get it back?
The group added that Tenon was planning to liaise with LSUK staff and 'everything will be done to help and advise them with regards to the situation'.
this was taken off a website !
has anyone actually heard anything from tenon ?
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