EMPLOYEES, partners and
consumers alike look like losing their
shirts following the collapse of
Granville Technology Group (GTG), the
holding company behind the Time,
Tiny and The Computer Shop brands.In a dramatic sequence of events, GTG failed to open its retail outlets on Monday July 25th, telling staff to go on paid leave until Thursday. Meanwhile, the company continued to take orders through its online and mail order businesses, but by Wednesday (July 27th) the administrators had been called in and all but 100 of the company?s 1,500 employees had been told they?d lost their jobs.
Bizarrely, there were stories that security staff at the head office were preventing employees from leaving the building, relenting only when the police were called.
Rumours of the collapse began a week earlier, on July 20th, when an organisation called the Independent Time Employee Forum circulated an email alleging that most of the GTG board, including former boss Tahir Mohsan, had resigned as directors.
It also alleged that temporary staff were being laid off, permanent staff had been being paid late for two months and stores were suddenly closing without notice.
Two days later the GTG head of human resources, Richard Harris, partially refuted the claims in an interview with ZDNet UK as ?a malicious mix of fact and fiction, presumably from a disgruntled employee.?
Where this leaves the many people owed money by GTG remains to be seen. Its main banker, HSBC, appears unlikely to recover the ?19 million it is owed, as are those owed the rest of what is reported to be ?50 million in total debt.
It is unclear how many people who are still awaiting delivery of new or repaired PCs will either get what they paid for or their money back, but it doesn?t look good for them either.
The timing of the collapse was such that employees were due their salary two days after they were made redundant, to date most have yet to receive anything.
Within a week two MPs - Labour?s Kitty Usher, MP for Burnley and Nigel Evans, Tory MP for Ribble Valley - had called for the Department of Trade and Industry to investigate the Burnley-based GTG and the circumstances behind the collapse.
In a statement to PC Retail, however, the DTI stressed that they can only become involved if the administrator?s report, due within six months of taking over, suggests wrong-doing.
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