If you have read much here or you know anything about me you will know that I've been running UK Whitegoods (UKW) since 2002 and that led to me running UK Whitegoods Limited (UKWL) from around 2004 through to 2024 when it was closed down. 

Whilst I can tell some of the story given that as I write this the company is not fully, officially in administration, I can explain why it came about. 

HMRC & Accountants

In 2022 we got a thing from HMRC saying that we owed them money and that was passed to our accountant who told us that was incorrect as HMRC hadn't offset R&D tax credits and whatever. To be honest, not my thing, the company was paying them to sort that out so it was left with them to deal with. 

We got another thing bout it, passed it to the accountants who said they'd deal with it. 

Mid 2023 and we got another stroppy letter from HMRC so I called them, found out that things hadn't been dealt with so I duly approached the accountants and made my displeasure known. They said they'd deal with it. 

I got a call from the accountants saying they'd spoken to HMRC and all was well. 

It wasn't. 

Winding Up Order

All this faded into the background as dealing with the normal stuff was more important until one day, out the blue, a letter arrived from HMRC issuing a winding up order. You can Google it if you don't know what that is. 

But it was then I learned that HMRC cannot undo that, once they start the process that's it, you're stuck with it until it's all completed one way or another. 

A visit to a very panicked accountant who was more or less now retired later, dealing with solicitors and hastily arranged finance we managed to get out that mess but, at a cost. 

We incurred a bunch of costs in legal fees, finance and more as well as lost a lot of ground with credit, saddled with unexpected debt repayments and so forth. But, we thought we could get through it but it'd take a while. 

Almost Settled Dust

Once that was all done and some sense of normality had resumed we were getting along. I won't say well as that'd be an exaggeration but we were getting by but we knew it was going to take at least 1-2 years to claw our way out the mess that we'd been saddled with. 

That was late 2023 and into 2024. 

Sadly one or two suppliers were unprepared to give the time that we needed and that caused issues. These issues were further compounded when we hit the inevitable slow down at the start of 2024 and revenues dropped. 

On top of that we had some technical issues with the website that gave troubles, issues with payment gateways and the site speed that led to a quiet period becoming a very quiet period. 

Could we have gotten through that, probably. Could we get through that paying off the debts incurred and satisfying suppliers as well, iffy. 

If the site bounced back, we'd have had a chance, and that was the hope, but it didn't happen fast enough.  

The Choice

Earlier in the year we'd looked at the possibility of closing UKWL but as we had hope that it would bounce back this was a "just in case" and for us to be aware of the process, the cost and so on. 

A couple or so months later in very late July it became clear that this was the only viable option sadly. 

Many people, especially those that have never run a business, will think this is a cop out or whatever but it's not and I, as a director, do not walk away unscathed by any stretch. For start I've worked on UKWL for about 20 years and there are personal financial penalties that I must bear. 

If people think it's just a case of walking away with no harm done to directors, think again. 

And, people lost their jobs as well that I had a responsibility to. 

I am quite sure there are charlatans out there who open and close companies to try to diddle people or whatever, but the vast majority, I suspect, are honest people like myself who get caught out by events beyond their control and despise the notion of being forced to close down and let people down. 

It is a very serious choice to make, with often profound implications that go way beyond a customer not getting goods or a supplier being paid. Anyone that says differently probably hasn't a clue what they're talking about or ever been through it. 

The Aftermath

Well, we'll see, won't we?

UKW remains mine for the time being though the store cannot take orders as there is no infrastructure to support it for now. There are no employees, no shipping contracts in place, no suppliers and so nothing can be supplied for the time being. 

Obviously, I am working towards a solution, but quite what that will look like and when it will happen is, as yet, to be confirmed.