Latest news with #JohnPyeAuctions
Scottish Sun
28-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Major manufacturer that supplies railway operators suddenly closes after 50 years as over 30 staff made redundant
The business appointed administrators in October last year CUT BACKS Major manufacturer that supplies railway operators suddenly closes after 50 years as over 30 staff made redundant Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MAJOR manufacturer that supplies railway operators has suddenly closed after 50 years. A key update was issued after the employer made all of its staff redundant and began a fire sale of its assets. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 A major manufacturer that supplies railway operators has suddenly closed after 50 years Credit: Google maps 3 Manufacturer Dale (Mansfield) Limited made its staff redundant Credit: Google maps Manufacturer Dale (Mansfield) Limited appointed administrators in October last year. However all 34 employees at the company, which was established in the early 1970s, were made redundant after the business failed to find a purchaser or investor. Administrators from Leonard Curtis have been selling off the business' assets since they were appointed, but newly released information show it is now shutting down entirely. Documents recently filed with Companies House show Dale's former headquarters has now been sold to haulage firm Maurice Hill Transport Limited for £1.2 million, reports Nottingham Post. The property is based on a three-acre site and is divided into two main buildings, both with manufacturing and office accommodation space. The money raised by its sale will be used to pay the company's creditors, including Lloyds Bank and HMRC. Its equipment and stock has also been sold off by the administrators, who revealed in financial documents that up to this point more than £62,000 had been raised by selling scrap metal and other materials from the closed factory. Basford-based auctioneer John Pye Auctions was appointed to sell some of the company's other items and raised £194,653 in total from sales of furniture, cars, and machinery. Administrators had been told Dale's intellectual property could sell for as much as £80,000. But sadly the administrators said: "customer interest in the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) has been disappointing thus far" and that it was unlikely to hit this sum. Scottish firm goes bust after plunging into administration The firm's managers said it expected Lloyds, HMRC, and priority creditors - like former staff - would be repaid in full. The taxman had claimed £282,430 from the business, while employee-related claims totalled £47,625. Mansfield is in north Nottinghamshire and has a proud history of coal mining and textiles industries. The firm's website said its mining and oil rig equipment had been used in the Caspian Sea, Sardinia, Azerbaijan, the Gulf of Mexico, and in South Wales. However, following the decline of the UK mining industry, Dale's diversified into other industries including manufacturing hydraulic cylinders. What does going into administration mean? WHEN a company enters into administration, all control is passed to an appointed administrator. The administrator has to leverage the company's assets and business to repay creditors any outstanding debts. Once a company enters administration, a "moratorium" is put in place which means no legal action can be taken against it. Administrators write to your creditors and Companies House to say they've been appointed. They try to stop the company from being liquidated (closing down), and if it can't it pays as much of a company's debts from its remaining assets. The administrator has eight weeks to write a statement explaining what they plan to do to move the business forward. This must be sent to creditors, employees and Companies House and invite them to approve or amend the plans at a meeting. A Notice of Intention is used to inform concerning parties that a company intends to enter administration. It is a physical document which is submitted to court, usually by directors aiming to prevent a company from being liquidated. Like with a standard administration process, a Notice of Intention stops creditors from taking out any legal action over a company while they try and rectify the business. Dale's website explained it had worked with Eurostar, which operates international train services between Paris, London, Amsterdam and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. Richard Pinder, director of restructuring and insolvency at Leonard Curtis, said last year: 'The company ran a marketing campaign last year to find a purchaser or investor to take the business forward which unfortunately was unsuccessful. "Upon my instruction to advise the company, it was clear that its financial and operational position was such that there was no realistic prospect of avoiding a cessation of trade. "And there was insufficient working capital or work in progress to support continued trade, even in the immediate short term. 'We are currently assisting the Redundancy Payments Service in dealing with the processing and payment of employee claims for redundancy and their other entitlements." Mr Pinder added that it was "uncertain" if unsecured creditors, such as companies owed money by Dale, would get much money back through the administration.
Telegraph
10-03-2025
- Telegraph
How to buy stolen luxury items from the police – from a Rolex to a Chanel handbag
There are surely few 21 st -century pastimes more addictive than online shopping, but browsing for seized goods that have been confiscated by police from criminals does tend to bring with it an extra frisson. Right now, on the Luxury Designer Room on the John Pye Auctions website, for example, I can see I have just eight hours left to bid on an 18-carat white-gold diamond necklace, which has a current asking price of £5,350. Or there's the one alongside it – a rose-gold diamond pavé design, for which someone has just offered £5,500. This might seem a lot of money for little jewellery but, as the auction house would tell you, such figures are far below the recommended retail price (RRP). You get a bargain and you get an intriguing backstory. Win-win. It's not all eye-wateringly expensive, though. There are cheaper items, including some competitively priced watches, various coin collections and a pair of swimming trunks from Fendi whose price is sadly not yet listed because this particular auction has yet to start. On the high street, you can find a similar pair for £646. It won't sell for that much on here, though, and so the compulsion to keep refreshing the page proves difficult to resist. Of course it does: summer is looming and with it the dreams of holidays in the sun. Patek Philippe Nautilus Automatic Watch, £65,200, John Pye Auctions Patek Philippe Nautilus 5980/1R Automatic Watch, £66,000, John Pye Auctions Ill-gotten gains Police auctions are big business. They may not be advertised particularly well, but they hide in plain sight, taking place each and every week online, organised either by individual police forces or specialist sites like John Pye Auctions. Items collected have either been stolen and unclaimed by their original owners or, as is the case at John Pye, detained by police following an arrest. Cartier 18-carat Rose Gold Diamond-Paved 'Love' Ring, £1,750, John Pye Auctions 'The items sold in our auctions are seized under proceeds of crime orders,' says Paul Hird, who heads up the luxury department at John Pye. Hird explains that criminals tend to have a lot of cash to burn. adding: ' They can't put money in the bank or into property, so they have to spend it. Many of them will have dozens of pairs of trainers, the majority of which they will only wear once. They'll buy £500 Balenciaga T-shirts or Rolexes – anything that'll make them look good.' When a criminal is arrested, their assets are seized and anything they might have purchased from the proceeds of their crimes – ill-gotten gains – are permanently removed. Once these have been cleared for sale, they are appraised and valued, then authorised to be sold at auction. Demand is perennially high; John Pye, for example, has one million registered bidders. Interested parties attend by 'appointment', via either a phone call or email, and purchased items are then sent by post. Louis Vuitton x NBA Bandouliere Keepall 55 Bag, £1,800, John Pye Auctions Esoteric purchases and unlikely paraphernalia The draw for online shoppers is not merely the fact that these second-hand items have barely been worn or used, nor for any illicit, Guy Ritchie -adjacent thrill that might arise from owning an incarcerated gangster's Burberry coat, but that they sell for a fraction of their RRP. As Hird says: 'Who can really afford to spend £500 on a single T-shirt or, for that matter, £600 on those Fendi swimming trunks that you will likely wear for a couple of weeks on holiday? We'd only be able to value items like that for about £100.' This, he points out, will likely guarantee a quick sale. 'We have a lot of young people coming to buy the latest fashions, who'd be unable to afford it otherwise.' Chanel Quilted Double Flap Lambskin Handbag, £3,700, John Pye Auctions But criminals don't just splurge on fancy trainers and swimwear. Some pursue more esoteric objects. So, for every 18-carat gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date watch procured (one of which recently sold on the Sussex Police's eBay page for £38,000), they may also purchase an antique iron cannonball or a life-sized 19 th -century statue made by Louis Gasne (which Sussex Police recently sold for £797). Meanwhile, an average John Pye auction features a veritable smorgasbord of desirable items alongside all sorts of unlikely paraphernalia. Right now, the site is selling a collection of 1,000 vinyl records, many of them Japanese exports of British acts like Miles Kane and Kasabian, as well as a Samurai warrior outfit and a bonsai tree. 'It's always exciting opening the packages we get from the police every week,' says Gillian Graham, John Pye's luxury auction manager. 'We had some rifles once, but that was highly unusual and had to be handled with specialist security. Handbags are far more likely.' Rolex Day-Date 40 Automatic Watch, £28,000, John Pye Auctions Indeed, the site's team recently took possession of perhaps its most unusual delivery yet: an expansive art collection. When asked where it came from, and under what circumstances, Graham shakes her head. 'We don't know the provenance,' she says. 'And we very rarely do, to be honest.' (Staff are also required to sign NDAs.) 'But it was quite the collection and featured artists like Stanley Whitney and Andy Warhol.' A specialist art valuer was brought in and the collection was stored in a secure guarded vault while the auction team sought a prospective buyer from its database of art enthusiasts. 'We have all sorts of collectors registered with us,' says Graham. They duly found an interested party, who wishes to remain anonymous. As for its likely price tag, Graham shakes her head again. She cannot say. Follow the money A significant amount of money is being raised here, not just from the art and the watches, but from the blouses, cufflinks, high-heeled shoes, sundry MacBooks and occasional bass guitar. So, what happens to the proceeds? 'We send it back to the police,' Graham explains. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph Automatic Watch, £30,200, John Pye Auctions According to its website, the money raised is distributed by the Police Property Act Fund to help 'reinforce our core priorities in keeping communities safe, and identifying and protecting vulnerable people'. Individual donations have included £10,000 to rape-crisis charities, while £91,000 was distributed to food banks and mental-health support services during the Covid pandemic. In the last financial year alone, Sussex Police's eBay platform raised more than £176,000 from its weekly auctions. Crime, it seems, really does pay – just not always in the way criminals might expect. Richard Mille RM010 Automatic Watch, £37,100, John Pye Auctions Indeed, if curious shoppers continue to flock to sites to bag a bargain, these auctions will ultimately serve a higher purpose. 'It's all about stopping criminal activity – and being seen to do so,' says Hird. Such visibility is important, he suggests, 'because people can be critical of the police [and] the justice system. [These auctions] show that the police are doing their job: taking criminals off the street and seizing items from them. It hurts the criminal, having everything taken from them. It's demoralising; it sends a message and hopefully acts as a deterrent.' Meanwhile, those Fendi swimming trunks have just gone live. The current price is £80. A bargain, surely? Some might even call it a steal.
