A COLLAPSED haulage firm was forced into administration after losing a bumper contract, its former boss has said.

Nelson-based Macgregor Europe, which once turned over £5million a year, has been taken over by administrators after they were called in by majority shareholder and founder Peter Macgregor.

Thirty-five workers have been laid off and experts from Bury restructuring firm Leonard Curtis are picking through the company’s accounts to see if any of the business can be salvaged.

Mr Macgregor, who founded the company in 1998, is now running one-man firm Macgregor European Trailers, advising hauliers on moving freight around Europe.

However, he said that it had proved “impossible” to carry on trading Macgregor Europe, based on the Lomeshaye industrial estate.

He said that at the end of last year, the company lost a £100,000-a-month contract with a US firm, placing it in financial peril.

Mr Macgregor said: “The trading in 2009 was really poor anyway and then one of our major customers gave us notice that they would not be renewing the contract.

“We did everything we possibly could to try and retain that contract but we just couldn’t do it. To lose that contract was a massive blow.

“It got to the point where the accountant and I looked at the figures and we decided it was impossible to trade out of it so we called in the administrators.”

The rising cost of petrol and diesel, which has hit many hauliers, was less of a factor in the firm’s demise, said Mr Macgregor.

In the aftermath of administrators being appointed, around 35 Macgregor Europe staff were made redundant.

Mr Macgregor said many had since found new jobs but he shared their disappointment at the demise of the firm.

He said: “It is horrible that people lost their jobs. There were people who had been there a long time.

“I fought tooth and nail to keep that company going but it was just impossible. I am devastated”

Leonard Curtis was unavailable for comment on the progress of the administration.