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17
Mar 2023
Collapsed Harrogate firm Amvoc set to enter administration
An insolvency firm has been appointed to handle the process of placing failed Harrogate firm Amvoc into administration.
Staff at the telemarketing firm were left shocked on Tuesday night when they received a late night email from chief executive Damian Brockway saying "all our offices are closed with effect from tonight". It went on to blame "covid debts".
Law firm Aticus Law has now been contacted by 145 former employees as it investigates the circumstances of the company’s collapse and concerns around how the redundancy process was managed, as well as whether ex-staff are eligible to claim for compensation.
Gareth Lewis, director of Leeds firm Lewis Business Recovery and Insolvency, said today it was handling the administration process.
He said:
Founded in Dacre
Mr Brockway set up Amvoc, the trading name of A Marketing Vocation Ltd, from a small office in Dacre in 2010. It sold telemarketing services, initially in the legal sector, and grew rapidly, moving first to Pateley Bridge and then to large offices at New York Mills near Summerbridge.
It opened a new head office on Cardale Park in Harrogate in 2015, a facility in Leeds in 2018 and an office in Manchester in 2022. It also had plans to expand to London.
Amvoc’s clients included BP, Barclays, Virgin Media, Leeds Beckett University, and both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
Its website said it employed 450 staff but the Stray Ferret believes the figure at the time the company collapsed was under 300.
Read more:
- Law firm to represent about 100 staff at failed Harrogate firm
- Hundreds of job losses as Harrogate company goes under
We again attempted to contact Mr Brockway today. An immediate emailed response said:
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