A company that collapsed into administration a year ago is to be liquidated. All employees at TVR Express were made redundant when the business failed in February 2022.

At the time Rehan Ahmed and Tauseef Rashid of business advisory firm Quantuma were appointed as joint administrators of the company.

TVR Express, which also had deals with FedEx, Hermes, Yodel and DPD, operated out of sites in Leyland and Winsford and used self-employed drivers and rented vehicles.

Founded in November 2015, the business reported a turnover of £2.5m at the height of the pandemic. However, Amazon cut its ties with the company towards the end of 2021 and its contracts with FedEx, Yodel and DPD were also discovered to be unprofitable.

A Quantuma document submitted to Companies House last year said: “Initially, the company was funded by loans from the director and other private investment, with the director also maintaining a full-time job before the company was in a position to pay a salary. By 2020 the director was employed by the company on a full-time basis and, he considers, that the year began strongly.

However, in March/April, the Covid pandemic struck. Initially this was good for business and prompted the company to recruit a senior manager to assist in the running of the business and in particular look after the vehicle fleet.”

It also stated “In May 2020 the director developed a serious heart condition and was rushed into hospital. As a result the newly-recruited manager was effectively dealing with the day to day operations from May 2020 onwards, whilst the director underwent treatment and recovery.

In January 2021 the company secured a CBILS loan to implement various performance improvement measures and to fund further expansion given increasingly Amazon requirements. The director’s involvement in the company continued to be limited as he underwent a further operation in May 2021.

In August 2021 Amazon UK asked the company to double its presence at six distribution sites by the middle of November 2021. However, unknown to the company, another department within Amazon were under instruction to begin closure of any self-employed service partners, and on 15th September, the company was given 30 days’ notice that Amazon would no longer require the company’s services.”

Regarding the impact of losing the Amazon deal the statements said: “Focus was then turned to FedEx, Yodel and DPD contracts, however, when performance information was reviewed, these contracts were found to be unprofitable.

In early 2021 the company carried out an internal review of its finances and the director decided to sell the company’s motor vehicle fleet in order to free up cash flow. In turn, the company entered into a number of van hire agreements.

In late 2021, Amazon, who were by far the company’s largest client, terminated the company’s contract and took those services in-house. The termination of the Amazon contract had a significant impact on the company’s revenue. Whilst the company did obtain alternative contracts in order to recover revenue, these new contracts were not profitable.”;