Members of the employee trust fund and local MPs have called for the former owners of MG Rover, the so-called “Phoenix Four”, to make personal donations to the former employees.
Around 6,500 workers will share £22,000 after Phoenix Venture Holdings lost a court hearing this week against the liquidators of MG Rover. The ruling prevents them from claiming £12.5m paid out to Lloyds Banking Group from the car company.
The Phoenix Four - Peter Beale, John Towers, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards – were last year struck off as company directors for a combined 19 years following the collapse of MG Rover.
They collected £42m in pay and pensions over just five years after buying MG Rover from BMW for £10 in 2000.
The Phoenix Four had offered to pay £12.5m of funds from MG Rover into the Longbridge Trust for staff but claimed this payment was being delayed by Lloyds.
However, in a statement on Thursday Lloyds said it is “not in anyone's gift to promise to donate money to others that is not legally theirs”.
It added: “As a major lender to MG Rover we made losses from its collapse. We therefore have a duty to our shareholders, including the taxpayer, to try to minimise these losses.
"Along with other creditors, we are seeking to do this through the normal recoveries process.”
Carl Chinn, a trustee of the former employees' fund, said following a meeting of former workers: “We have made one last call to the Phoenix Four and former chief executive Kevin Howe to make a significant donation to the trust so that we can send out something larger than £3.
“We will then have a final meeting of the trust fund to decide what can be done. We are deeply upset and angry with the way that this long-running saga has caused so much distress to so many workers.”
Source: Former MG Rover workers to receive £3 compensation - Telegraph
Around 6,500 workers will share £22,000 after Phoenix Venture Holdings lost a court hearing this week against the liquidators of MG Rover. The ruling prevents them from claiming £12.5m paid out to Lloyds Banking Group from the car company.
The Phoenix Four - Peter Beale, John Towers, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards – were last year struck off as company directors for a combined 19 years following the collapse of MG Rover.
They collected £42m in pay and pensions over just five years after buying MG Rover from BMW for £10 in 2000.
The Phoenix Four had offered to pay £12.5m of funds from MG Rover into the Longbridge Trust for staff but claimed this payment was being delayed by Lloyds.
However, in a statement on Thursday Lloyds said it is “not in anyone's gift to promise to donate money to others that is not legally theirs”.
It added: “As a major lender to MG Rover we made losses from its collapse. We therefore have a duty to our shareholders, including the taxpayer, to try to minimise these losses.
"Along with other creditors, we are seeking to do this through the normal recoveries process.”
Carl Chinn, a trustee of the former employees' fund, said following a meeting of former workers: “We have made one last call to the Phoenix Four and former chief executive Kevin Howe to make a significant donation to the trust so that we can send out something larger than £3.
“We will then have a final meeting of the trust fund to decide what can be done. We are deeply upset and angry with the way that this long-running saga has caused so much distress to so many workers.”
Source: Former MG Rover workers to receive £3 compensation - Telegraph
