Ex-Rangers owner Craig Whyte's firm wound up over unpaid roofing bill

A company run by former Rangers owner Craig Whyte is being wound up over an unpaid £86,000 roofing bill.

Tixway UK Limited, which had a similar striking off order against it suspended earlier this year, had the notice to liquidate it lodged against it last month.

This came after the firm had been found to owe One Stop Roofing more than £86,000 over a purchase of roofing materials.

Mr Whyte is the sole director of Tixway UK, which has a registered office in Glasgow’s Bath Street, and also involved his father, Tom Whyte, in the day-to-day running of its operations.

At the Court of Session on Friday, Lord Hodge granted the move to liquidate Mr Whyte’s firm and insolvency experts Moore Stephens has been appointed to oversee the winding up of the company.

Tixway UK was found to have breached an agreement to pay One Stop Roofing, which is owned by former Albion Rovers manager Paul Martin, for roofing tiles supplied to another company, Snowcast UK, that had struck a deal to re-tile houses for Glasgow Housing Association.

One Stop Roofing applied to the Court of Session to get liquidators appointed to wind up Tixway UK last month after it failed to pay the debt and was unsuccessful in appealing the decision in the case in February.

In his findings following hearings at Glasgow Sheriff Court last year, Sheriff Nigel Ross described Mr Whyte’s evidence in the case as "wholly unreliable" and said it was "not possible to ascertain whether he is not telling the truth or is simply unable to recollect the true position".

Five days after the sheriff delivered his findings in the civil action, Mr Whyte lodged an intention to put Rangers FC plc into administration with the Court of Session on February 13.

The club formally experienced the insolvency event the following day where his chosen firm, Duff and Phelps, were appointed over neutral practitioners, which was a move being sought by HM Revenue and Customs.

Mr Whyte claimed that he had entered an agreement for roofing supplies with Snowcast and One Stop Roofing for his Grantown-on-Spey home, Castle Grant. However, the sheriff rejected this claim and during the court hearing the 41-year-old businessman also admitted that he had previously been banned from serving as a director for seven years in 2000 over his involvement in the firm Vital UK Ltd.

After Rangers were placed into administration, the Scottish FA fined Mr Whyte £200,000 and banned him from holding a position in football for life as a result of the financial mismanagement of the Ibrox club during the nine months of his ownership.

He bought an 85% stake in Rangers from Sir David Murray for £1 and effectively funded his takeover with a £25.3m deal for future season ticket sales with Ticketus, which he used to wipe off the club’s £18m debt to Lloyds Banking Group.

As a result of that deal being torn up by administrators, Ticketus is now pursuing Mr Whyte through the courts for £27m in personal guarantees he gave the firm over the agreement, which was similar to ones struck by Sir David for the club in 2009.

Duff and Phelps are also pursuing Mr Whyte’s parent company, Rangers FC Group, and his former lawyers, Collyer Bristow, for more than £25m in a legal action in London over claims that both he and solicitor Gary Withey took part in a "conspiracy" and "deception" of the old Rangers board through the use of the Ticketus deal.

Mr Whyte has not returned to Ibrox since administrators were appointed on February 14.

IN DETAIL

In full: Court decision on Tixway UK case

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