Farmer 'almost lost business' after advice (From The Oxford Times)

Farmer 'almost lost business' after advice

7:00pm Sunday 14th June 2009 in

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QUESTIONS have been raised in Parliament about the treatment of an Oxfordshire farmer whose poultry business was almost made bankrupt after he sought help from a bank.

Justin Riggs, 50, who runs Mill Farm in Stanford in the Vale, lost a quarter of his income when he was advised to sell land and chicken houses, after taking out a £375,000 loan with Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in 2004.

Mr Riggs sold 60 acres of his 138-acre plot and two chicken houses.

But after taking out the loan, Mr Riggs’s business began to suffer.

The loan had grown to £382,000 by the time it was called in three years later – despite the fact Mr Riggs had paid the bank £231,000 in interest, charges and fees. He was forced to remortgage his farm in October 2007. But on the day of remortgage, Mr Riggs claimed he was lumbered with a £40,000 bill from HBOS.

The father-of-four said: “I almost went bankrupt. I’d ordered 3,000 more chickens, but could not afford to feed them. I had to cancel the order and slaughter the 12,000 birds I had at the farm.

“No-one wants to sell land, but under pressure I was forced to. It annihilated my business “It was a choice between losing my chickens or not paying my mortage.”

MPs in the House of Commons heard the case was one of several in which businesses had suffered after dealing with the same HBOS worker at the bank’s Reading office. The adviser, Lynden Scourfield, has since left the bank.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, who raised the case during a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday, said: “As a result of that advice, which Mr Riggs felt inclined to follow, he saw a 25 per cent drop in income.”

Mr Vaizey said: “There is a pattern in the way that Mr Scourfield engaged numerous people.

“He has taken businesses and loaded them with loans, charges and consultancy fees. It is now up to HBOS to come to the table, following a moral course rather than a legalistic one, and put those people back in the position that they would have been in before.”

The Tory MP added that HBOS had since agreed to waive £40,000 of charges.

Business Minister Ian Pearson said he was “deeply concerned” and vowed to seek assurances from the Financial Services Authority that “all appropriate consideration” was given to the concerns raised.

A spokesman for HBOS said: “It is obviously a very trying time for any individual caught up in managing a company experiencing financial difficulties. We stand by our customers and support them closely in managing their financial difficulties. At all times, however, directors must satisfy themselves that they are trading solvently.”