Go Plant collapsed owing £72m, documents show
Go Plant, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of specialist vehicle hire to local authorities and the private sector, owed £72m to creditors when it fell into administration, according to documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com.
The private equity-backed firm, which is based in Coalville, Leicestershire, but had nine depots across the UK, was sold to Sweeptech Environmental Services, based in Berkshire, in a £2m deal brokered by administrators from Alvarez & Marsal Europe at the beginning of May.
Among the familiar names in Go Plant’s creditors list are private equity backers Endless, which is owed over £50m, Close Brothers Leasing, which is owed over £1.6m, HSBC Equipment Finance, which owed over £4.4m, Lloyds Bank, which is owed over £2.4m and Secure Trust bank which is owed over £3.7m.
Some 197 employees were made redundant when Coalville-based Go Plant collapsed in May. The firm’s troubles can be traced back to late 2023 when an employee lost their life after a health and safety incident involving one of the company’s vehicles. The incident remains the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Health and Safety Executive.
Following the incident, Go Plant put in place a number of operational safeguards, following advice, which impacted its cost base and operational efficiency.
