Twenty-five former staff at Peeks Party Store in Christchurch win employment tribunal amid liquidation
TWENTY-FIVE staff won an employment tribunal claim after they were made redundant while furloughed by a collapsed party supply store in Christchurch.
Peeks Party Store blamed the coronavirus lockdown and Brexit for its going out of business last year.
Although the exact figure was not revealed, news of the pay award to staff emerged in a progress report by Nicola Layland, from Portland Business and Financial Solutions – the liquidator in charge of sorting out the affairs of the former Reid Street outlet.
Ms Layland said workers were assisted making claims to the government’s Redundancy Payments Office and went to an employment tribunal over a lack of consultation.
The liquidator did not fight the cases because legal advice was that it would "not be cost effective".
"We advised the tribunal of this position," she stated in the report. "The tribunal heard the claims of the employees and awarded in their favour."
She added tangible assets and stock had been auctioned off for £74,400 – in excess of estimates.
However, it was likely the liquidator would only be able get back around half of the £68,000 Peeks had been owed by debtors.
While £54,000 was estimated to be recoverable, some debtors had not reopened or had furloughed staff because of Covid-19, and it would not be "cost effective" chasing down some of the outstanding fees, the report said.
Interest in the goodwill of the company, such as its name and rights, could not be realised since the website domain name had been rented from an IT company and was not an asset, while two sub-tenants had paid up about £5,000 in rent.
The business was founded by Charles Peek in 1946 but the Reid Street store, off Fairmile Road, opened in the 1990s. Mr Peek died in 2012 and the company was run by his grandson Nick.
As reported in the A&T, REIDsteel is expanding its factory and offices into the site, also home to the Monkey Madness soft play centre which closed during the pandemic.
