Future of regional contractor hangs in balance as creditors meet to decide whether to give it breathing space.
The future of regional contractor Driver Construction is in doubt this week as it emerged that it had appointed insolvency adviser Ratcliffe.

Building disclosed last month that the firm was in financial difficulties after a credit checking firm called NPD revealed that it faced 122 county court judgments totalling more than £130,000. NPD said all the claims outstanding now total £250,000.

A staff member at Driver said last week that the firm was due to hold a creditors' voluntary agreement meeting yesterday.

The creditors will be asked to delay making a decision to put the firm into voluntary administration while it tries to resolve its financial difficulties.

Credit checking firm NPD said Driver faced judgments of £250,000

The member of staff said Ratcliffe had been appointed to try to broker a deal with creditors. Ratcliffe refused to comment. Driver Construction was unavailable for comment as Building went to press.

Confusion surrounded the ownership of Driver this week. It has emerged that it has a new managing director, Dean O'Connell, who has replaced Stephen Neagle. Neither O'Connell nor Alex Morris, the company's financial director, were available for comment.

The NPD report said: "Serious attention should be given to the detrimental judgment information. In view of the foregoing, it is suggested that interested parties should not proceed with unsecured dealings without first referring to the parent company."

NPD this week confirmed that Driver Construction was the subject of several more county court judgments over the past month.