Britishvolt owner could be wound up after failing to pay employees
The owner of the failed UK battery start-up Britishvolt could be wound up within weeks after a former employee began legal action to reclaim months of unpaid wages.
A former employee of Recharge Industries served a statutory demand to the company on Monday, giving it 21 days to pay outstanding debts, the Financial Times reported today.
The employee will be entitled to pursue bankruptcy proceedings against Recharge should the debts not be cleared within the time period.
Britishvolt, founded four years ago, had carried the hopes of Britain’s nascent electric vehicle sector on its shoulders with plans to build a £3.8bn gigafactory in Northumberland.
However, the company collapsed in January despite a promise of £100m in government funding. The majority of its 300-strong workforce was laid off before Australian entrepreneur David Collard’s Recharge Industries stepped in to buy the start-up for £8.6m.
In August, it was revealed Recharge had failed to pay £2.5m of the agreed £8.6m after struggling to raise the money. Administrators EY said the company was therefore “in default of the business sale agreement.”
Scale Facilitation, the parent company of Recharge Industries, has denied that the company defaulted on the deal to buy Britishvolt.
Recharge Industries and Scale Facilitation were approached for comment.