Twenty-eight Harvest Energy dealers have so far joined Prem Uthayakumaran’s group to tackle the Prax administration problem… but he is keen for more to join.
“I’m delighted that dealers have come forward but we really need more – and sooner rather than later. I would like all the Harvest Energy dealers out there who’ve been affected. to get on board because it would mean a huge saving in legal costs, but realistically I would be happy with 50,” he says.
The dealers that have come forward, all have similar stories – they’ve been left hanging after Prax went into administration in June. Thankfully other oil companies have stepped in to provide fuel but it’s only a temporary solution.
Uthayakumaran, for example, who has four sites under the Prehybrid name, has a contract with Valero/Texaco and they have been supplying fuel. He’s very grateful to them but says they cannot prioritise his sites because their resources are stretched.
The Harvest Energy dealers group has had two well-attended meetings so far and also has regular catch-ups via WhatsApp.
The PRA has played a role in the group, helping with mediation and sending out letters to dealers. Executive director Gordon Balmer confirmed that the PRA was keeping everyone informed and putting interested parties together although he added that there had been no official communication from Harvest Energy since the end of August. “We are keen to help dealers to discuss their options – whether to take action individually or as a collective,” he says.
Meanwhile, Uthayakumaran expressed his frustration at the fact that the Prax boss had seemed to be able to “run away with no liability”. To make matters worse, The Telegraph reported at the weekend that chairman and chief executive of Prax, Winston Soosaipillai, had told Prax administrators that he had no direct knowledge of what the outstanding balances owed to creditors was. He also said he was unable to confirm the value of the company’s assets.
In other Prax news, the insolvency firm running Lindsey oil refinery has announced redundancies even though there are at least two bids to buy and operate the site as a going concern.
Unite said the government is responsible for the redundancies going ahead as it could provide support to ensure the refinery is kept intact and operational.Lindsey supports 420 directly employed workers plus a further 500 contract jobs and potentially thousands in the supply chain.
The union believes that the insolvency firm’s preferred bidder wishes to mothball the site and use it as a storage terminal for oil tankers.Unite general secretary Sharon Graham says: “The government has been tin eared to the plight of workers at the second oil refinery facing closure in less than a year. This makes a mockery of government promises to protect workers and its plan for net zero.“The government had promised to ensure that job focused bids would be the priority at Lindsey, yet prior to bids even being considered, they are already issuing redundancy notices.
“Unless Labour start to back workers and British industry it will continue to haemorrhage support.”Unite says turning the refinery into a terminal would be the easiest way to satisfy creditors but would gut jobs, harm the regional economy and compromise the UK’s ability to produce its own fuel. Without the refinery, which supplied 25% of the UK diesel market, the country is more reliant on imported fuel.
Any dealer interested in taking part in Prem’s next meeting should contact Admin@prehybrid.co.uk
