Wellingborough Tingdene Homes Ltd went bust owing £37m including £591,625 in tax, £2.8m to creditors and £1.8m to staff

Finedon Road Industrial Estate-based Tingdene Homes Ltd was a major UK manufacturer of residential park homes and holiday lodges that ceased trading in December 2023.

The company cited ‘challenging trading conditions’ and an ‘inability to meet financial obligations’ for closure, resulting in the redundancy of all 156 employees.

FRP Advisory Trading Limited was formally appointed as liquidator at the end of December 2023.

Documents sent to Companies House, filed on August 11 this year, said: “We have received claims totalling £36,835,716.72 from unsecured creditors. There were insufficient funds realised to make a distribution to unsecured creditors.”

A total of £6,205,576.16 has been declared on the official document detailing a company's assets and liabilities – the Statement of Affairs – with only £3,542.34 being realised, the process of converting an asset into cash or cash equivalents.

It is understood that the additional £30m relates to an insurance claim made against Tingdene Homes Ltd by one of its creditors. This isn’t being assessed by the administrators though due to the funds available to them.

Secured creditor DF Capital Bank Ltd lost £768,000 after a ‘no fixed charge realisation’ of a loan to the struggling company.

Out of the 191 company creditors that were owed money by Tingdene Homes Limited, 53 are based in Northamptonshire.

Companies owed money included Universal Chassis Ltd in Corby who lost £185,396 and Edmundson Electrical Ltd in Kettering who were owed £66,999.

The most owed to any individual company was £202,046 to Sheffield timber suppliers Arnold Laver & Co.

Staff at the park homes company were told on December 5 that they should register as unemployed ‘immediately’ with workshops and showrooms locked up following the filing of a winding up petition at the High Court.

Employees had been warned that under the insolvency provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, any claims they had for unpaid wages, accrued holiday, redundancy or pay in lieu of notice may be paid by the Redundancy Payments Service out of the national insurance fund.

When Tingdene Homes Ltd went bust, the 156 employees were owed a total of £1,776,139.54 redundancy, notice and wages.

At the end of the summer in 2023, the company had made some staff redundant. August wages were late with directors giving different excuses citing a ‘banking error’, not ‘enough funds’, and there had been an ‘error by the company’. They were also told payments had been delayed because of the bank holiday.

Customers had started turning up at the showroom and demanding their orders be fulfilled, including one customer who refused to move from the premises until their purchase was honoured.

August and September wages were paid in full, but at the end of October, having already asked staff’s permission to change payment dates, employees then received less than 20 per cent of their wages.

Staff on short-term lay off were not paid but left unable to claim any benefits or sign up to agencies because they were still ‘employed’.

In 2019, Tingdene, celebrated 50 years in business.

According to the latest accounts, in May 2022, Tingdene underwent a major restructure, following the sale and lease back of its land and buildings for £6.9 million. This allowed the business to clear its overdraft, pay off the bank loan and improve its ‘working capital position’.

A new company was formed called Scott Alexander Ltd who acquired 100 percent shareholding in Tingdene Homes Ltd under the sole directorship and control of Ian Scott Wilkins.

Mr Wilkins is currently the sole registered director of Tingdene Homes Limited. Scott Alexander Ltd was dissolved by voluntary strike off in September 2024.

Tingdene Homes Limited had been named as the litigant in a winding up petition submitted to the High Court by Edmundson Electrical Limited – the UK’s largest electrical distributor.

Known for producing high-quality, bespoke park homes and lodges built to BS 3632 standards, Tingdene Homes Limited’s closure impacted various stakeholders, including those who purchased units with warranties.

FRP Advisory Trading Limited were paid £63,817 to administer the insolvency.