Unions in fury over Time's collapse
Thursday, 28 July 2005
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Unions have called on the Government to investigate the collapse of the Tiny computer business, as 1,500 staff discovered they had lost their jobs.
Graham Coxon, of the GMB in Lancashire, said yesterday: "The GMB is angry that the management has let the company run down to this point without saying anything.
"We will be asking the DTI to launch an investigation to find out what happened and how it happened."
It was left for Bill Davies, the non-executive chairman of Granville Technology, formerly known as Time Group and the maker of Tiny computers, to call in the administrators yesterday morning as the remaining executives on the board, Barry Lynn and Kieran Crowley, both suddenly left Granville at the start of July. Their departures came as a surprise to Mr Davies, who said Mr Crowley and Mr Lynn left of their own accord. "If you can find out why [they left], then I would also very much like to know," he said.
Martin Ellis, from Grant Thornton, Granville's administrators, also said the "abrupt departure" of the executives, leaving the company in limbo as its losses spiralled to as much as £2m a month, has yet to be understood. Mr Lynn's wife was fielding telephone calls at his home in Wakefield yesterday, but declined to comment on the reasons for her husband's departure. Mr Crowley could also not be reached for comment.
Questions from the unions and the administrator will also be directed at Tahir Mohsan, the entrepreneur who appears to control the Granville group through a network of holding companies in the British Virgin Islands and in Jersey.
He has built up a £70m fortune from founding Time Computers with his half-brother, Dr Tariq Mohammed. They bought Tiny Computers out of administration in 2002, creating the UK's largest computer business, but both are said to have stopped working there more than a year ago.
Mr Mohsan has lived in Dubai for two years, but could also not be reached at his address.
The last accounts filed for the company reveal it made a profit of £2.5m on turnover of £207m in the year to the end of June 2003.
At the time, the directors said the group had "rigorous working capital controls" and that it was "well placed to compete" on the high street.
