Part of Taunton firm in liquidation faces creditors' claims worth £2m

7:00am Saturday 16th February 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Laura Barton

David Mortimer, director of both arms of C.S. Williams. David Mortimer, director of both arms of C.S. Williams.

ONE arm of a building firm which has operated in Taunton for over 60 years is facing £2million worth of claims after entering liquidation, it emerged this week.

Angry company bosses owed as much as £240,000 by C.S Williams (Construction) Ltd attended a lengthy creditors’ meeting last week, led by debt experts from accountancy firm Milsted Langdon, but it is still unclear how much money will be repaid or when.

The owner of Setsquare Recruitment Ltd in Taunton, Mike Watson, said he has been left nearly £70,000 out of pocket and is determined to get the money owed to him.

Ron Blake, owner of Walford Security, another business based in Taunton, said he is owed £30,000 after the collapse of the firm.

David Mortimer, director of both arms of C.S Williams, said: “The senior management at C.S Williams (Construction) Ltd will help the liquidators in gaining as much money for creditors as possible”

The building firm’s second arm, C.S Williams (Taunton) Ltd, which last year secured contracts including the £1.5million heritage project to re-develop Canington Court, remains solvent and is still trading.

Comments(7)

Mi_Coc says...
1:00pm Sat 16 Feb 13

Friend of mine was working for them until the later part of last year. A very experienced construction professional and he and a colleague came to the conclusion that David Mortimer is running CS Williams into the ground.

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Bazinga says...
2:53pm Sat 16 Feb 13

I think its heartless for the other local companies to disclose how much CS Williams owes to their company, especially making it public in the Local Newspaper -

Of course its a great shame to be left out of pocket, but businesses should show empathy for those who are being forced into bankruptcy, It could easily happen to them in a years time!

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FreeSpeech? says...
9:00pm Sat 16 Feb 13

Mi_Coc wrote:
Friend of mine was working for them until the later part of last year. A very experienced construction professional and he and a colleague came to the conclusion that David Mortimer is running CS Williams into the ground.
Agree with you Mi Coc, I worked for them before army service and found them a good employer, don't know why they decided to put part of the company into admin but does look like constructive write off and as such should be deemed illegal in my eyes.
Put my money assets being transferred between companies.
DIRECTORS SHOULD ROT IN HELL AND LOSE ALL PERSONAL ASSETS.

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Mi_Coc says...
10:18am Sun 17 Feb 13

FreeSpeech? wrote:
Mi_Coc wrote:
Friend of mine was working for them until the later part of last year. A very experienced construction professional and he and a colleague came to the conclusion that David Mortimer is running CS Williams into the ground.
Agree with you Mi Coc, I worked for them before army service and found them a good employer, don't know why they decided to put part of the company into admin but does look like constructive write off and as such should be deemed illegal in my eyes.
Put my money assets being transferred between companies.
DIRECTORS SHOULD ROT IN HELL AND LOSE ALL PERSONAL ASSETS.
I was working for a company until the middle of last year who did the same. They traded as a plc with their range rover sports and expensive convertable cars etc. The same family own the company that owns the building to. The ran the plc into the ground and then transferred all the assets ranger rover sports and convertible cars to the ltd company name. They are now at are now at the top of the creditors list for rents owed. Its sick how some businesses in this country are allowed to operate.

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lcal ian says...
11:28am Mon 18 Feb 13

Bazinga wrote:
I think its heartless for the other local companies to disclose how much CS Williams owes to their company, especially making it public in the Local Newspaper -

Of course its a great shame to be left out of pocket, but businesses should show empathy for those who are being forced into bankruptcy, It could easily happen to them in a years time!
I totally disagree. I think companies should disclose how much money they have lost, especially when CS Williams owes so much money to local companies, and continued to employ their services but obviously had no intension/ or means of paying them for their services. This could of easily put alot of local companies out of business!
How can one person, run 2 companies from the same business address, with very similar company names, fold up one company (owning millions), but carry on trading with the second company? This needs to be looked into- and fast!!!!!!

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topcataj says...
12:47pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I heard a different story, though admittedly I can't vouch for it's accuracy. I was under the impression David Mortimer took over the company when it wasn't in very good shape anyway and has been trying to save it.

Shame when this kind of thing happens, my granddad worked for the firm many years ago and it was thought highly of.

I'd also think it's very difficult for people running a business to know when to call it quits. I'm sure many don't want to call the administrators in owing lots of money, but if you let on that the business is struggling it ends up failing because people avoid using it anyway.

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Dr Dave says...
5:46pm Mon 18 Feb 13

The smug look on Mortimers face in the photo above says it all - he is home and dry while many sub-contractors out there have had months or years worth of good work washed down the plughole. I saw this coming a few months back, sadly. How another arm of the company can keep trading while the main established arm of the company has collapsed owing £2M is farcical.

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