Pier Company Threatened with Winding up Petition
Lions Hastings Pier Limited, the company which manages the pier for its owner Sheikh Abid Gulzar, is facing a potential winding up petition intended to be brought by former employees Peter Wheeler and Francesca Hill.
In May 2022 they obtained judgments against the company totalling over £74,000 in the Ashford Employment Tribunal. These judgments were in respect of claims of constructive unfair dismissal and, in Ms Hill’s case, sexual harassment under the Equality Act perpetrated within a few weeks of Gulzar purchasing the pier in 2018. Neither he nor his company have made any payments to the successful claimants since then, so the full judgments plus accruing interest remain outstanding.
There are a number of other county court judgments registered against the company.
Wheeler and Hill financed the Tribunal proceedings, in part at least, through crowdfunding. They have now started a fresh crowdfunder programme to cover the fees of their solicitors Longmores, based in Hertford, to bring proceedings to wind up the company on the ground of unpaid debts. Their purpose, according to the funding appeal, is described as “bring[ing] Lions Hastings Pier to book…Companies and Directors which behave so badly time and time again must not be allowed to get away with their fraudulent activities”.
Gulzar certainly has a long and well-documented record of managing companies into insolvency and failing to pay debts – whether personal or corporate – but has so far avoided any disqualification: he continues to act as sole director of seven other companies as well as of Hastings Lions Pier. Wheeler is determined to change this pattern.
“[The petition] will make Gulzar acknowledge the debt from the Tribunal, it will demonstrate that bad employers cannot get away with ignoring the consequences of their actions,” he says. “The Tribunal was at great personal costs in terms of mental stress as well as financial commitment to refute the lies, counter the misogyny and demonstrate sexual harassment by the managers of Lions Hastings Pier Limited. Ultimately, as can be seen from Gulzar’s track record, he should be struck off as a director – which is a privilege, and not a means of defrauding companies by running up large debts, then settling for much lower amounts – in short, relying on fraud to run companies”.
The crowdfunder is aiming to raise £7,000. It will remain open for donations until 4 August. Edit: find it here.
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The crowdfunder can be found at
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/legal-fees-to-wind-up-lions-hastings-pier-ltd
Thanks Jim. We’ve updated the end of the article.
Thanks 🙂