Green.TV to liquidate due to unpaid tax
Former staff claim history of issues as Green.TV set to liquidate on Friday
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story in today’s edition… Green.TV, the media company behind campaigns like World EV Day, is due to liquidate after HMRC filed a winding-up petition for unpaid taxes.
Elsewhere... Ofgem makes waves with a standing charge change, lots of new investments, and a charge point data leak.
As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
Former staff claim a history of issues as Green.TV set to be liquidated due to unpaid tax
Summary: The UK tax authority, HMRC, last week filed a compulsory winding-up petition against Green.TV Media Limited, the company behind initiatives like World EV Day and Top Women in EV, the trade publication Electric Drives, the EV Summit, and other media projects. As a result, this week, the company will liquidate, leaving wages and other creditor payments now in doubt.
Let’s start with some background... Green.TV was founded by Ade Thomas, who has been a prominent figure in the EV sector for many years. I’m sure at some point everyone has seen a LinkedIn post by Ade - he personally boasts 37,000 followers - or at least engaged with an initiative his company started, such as World EV Day.
Before we fully dive in... Know that I have made repeated attempts to contact Ade for a response to this story.
So, what’s happened? Last Friday, a notice was published in the London Gazette stating that a petition to shut down the company (wind-up) was sent to Green.TV over unpaid taxes on 15 August. It only went public on Friday (19 September), just a day after Green.TV had finished hosting its annual ‘EV Summit’ in Oxford, which was attended by dozens of industry professionals. Speakers at last week’s event included people from Renault, OVO, ChargeUK, BloombergNEF, Cox Automotive, Vauxhall, and the Department for Business & Trade.
Out of the blue? The Gazette notice was only picked up by Green.TV staff after a team member was called up by an insolvency practitioner. The news then quickly spread and, on Monday, my understanding is that Ade informed the team their roles were ending, as the company is understood to enter voluntary liquidation from this Friday (26 September).
No pay: According to the Gazette notice, the petition was first presented to Green.TV more than a month before the EV Summit. However, according to people who spoke to The Fast Charge, it appears Ade, who is the sole company director, did not inform staff properly until this week. This meant the Green.TV team and its suppliers, unaware of the situation, have effectively delivered its busiest month of work, including World EV Day, A Top Women in EV event, organised a Heat Pump Summit, and the EV Summit at Oxford, only to learn now that they may not be fully compensated. This is despite, as former employees have claimed, that Green.TV may have had money to pay staff following these events.
To some, this situation was not surprising. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one former Green.TV staffer claimed to The Fast Charge that they’d seen evidence of substantial unpaid debts going back several years. They mentioned that several companies had offered payment plans that were not maintained, despite a reasonable amount of cash flowing into the business. They added: “From the outside things looked successful, but in reality, it was a house of cards.”
Court threat: The same former staff member has also claimed that at one point, a team member had to resort to threatening legal action to get what they were owed from Ade. This claim was also repeated by a separate former employee.
Late wages: In one instance, a former Green.TV employee told The Fast Charge that, last Christmas, the team’s pay was so late in the month that one employee was allegedly unable to buy gifts for their family.
Management questions: Allegations of poor payment practices aren’t the only allegation that’s come to light about Green.TV this week. Former Green.TV employees, again speaking to The Fast Charge on condition of anonymity, have claimed that they’ve seen Ade treat some staff members appallingly, and in several instances, it is alleged he shouted at female staff, with some left in tears.
Back to the present day... Whilst his team were left in the dark about the situation Green.TV was in, it seems Ade has been making plans to start again.
Phoenix from the ashes? On the same day the Gazette notice appeared (Friday 19 September), Ade incorporated a new company. It’s called ElectricGlobalMedia Limited. There is no associated website, though I have noticed that a web domain with a similar name to Ade’s new company (www.electricglobal.media) was registered earlier this month - though this could be totally unrelated.
For background... It is not unusual in insolvency situations for directors to set up new companies where directors or owners of an insolvent company can transfer its assets and operations to a new, similar company to continue trading, often leaving the previous company’s debts unpaid.
Is this allowed? Yes, it can be, and it’s called “phoenixing”. According to GOV.UK, is it a term used when the same business or directors trade successively through a series of companies which liquidate or dissolve leaving debts unpaid. When phoenixing happens, it would be the Insolvency Service’s role to investigate suspected cases of misconduct and take action against those who have acted against the public interest, such as to evade debt.
To be clear... I am not suggesting Ade has done anything illegal. And all allegations reported above are based on accounts from former Green.TV employees.
In response to these claims? Ade has chosen not to respond. I have contacted him four times about the above. I first contacted Ade about the winding-up petition on Monday morning, and yesterday I contacted him again, twice, with all the claims listed. When I nudged him via a direct message about my emails on LinkedIn yesterday, as we were connected, he later removed our connection. This morning (24 September), I have sent him several final opportunities both on Whatsapp and email. As of midday, I have had nothing back.
I reached out to HMRC for comment on Green.TV’s winding-up. In response, HMRC told me it could not comment on identifiable businesses. An HMRC spokesperson added:
“We take a supportive approach to dealing with customers who have tax debts and only file winding-up petitions once we’ve exhausted all other options, in order to protect taxpayers’ money.”
Before I conclude this difficult story... I want to encourage all readers with live job opportunities (or know others who do) to seek out the profiles of those who worked at Green.TV, as they will all now be looking for work. Many are posting on LinkedIn already.
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