7:00pm Thursday 11th March 2010
By Chris Hopper
THE boss of a collapsed company which left 65 people redundant said the firm ‘simply ran out of cash’.
Grant Wignall, manager director of Darwen-based window and door manufacturer Octaveward, said the company had been forced into administration after a client failed to pay up on a huge contract.
The firm last month sent its workforce home, blaming a problem with its bank account.
But less than a week later, on March 2, Octaveward, based at Balle Street Mill, was placed into administration prompting the laying-off of all 65 workers.
Despite some staff saying they had learned of their fate from the Lancashire Telegraph, Mr Wignall, whose father Norman previously ran Octaveward, said he had spoken to employees at the factory to make them aware of the collapse.
He said: “I explained to staff what happened and they were very understanding. As far as I am concerned, I exonerated myself.
“Finance from banks has dried up and we have got £100,000 owed to us from a big contract which has not been paid.
“My own father personally paid £120,000 into the business a month ago and he has lost that.
“We simply ran out of cash because we didn’t get paid for that contract.”
Mr Wignall, 42, also revealed he was recovering from two strokes and said he was unsure whether he would ever work again.
Last week, Leeds-based administrator Zolfo Cooper took over the running of Octaveward and said it would try to ‘trade the company on a scaled-down basis’.
Administrators said the firm had ‘endured difficult trading conditions’ made worse by the recession, but offered a ‘good opportunity’ for an investor.
A Zolfo Cooper spokesman said he could offer no update on the administration process.
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