THE boss of Bury's award-winning Nationwide Telephone Company has told how he left the business a week before receivers were called in.

Despite the fact the company has crashed, Mark Bedward is hopeful he and his team can continue to serve existing customers - with or without the backing of new owners.

He revealed he and his Bury team are currently continuing to service former Nationwide customers, but under a separate entity.

Receivers were called into the Peel Way-based business in April and it is believed a deal to sell the whole group is imminent.

Sixty Bury-based staff have been made redundant and Mr Bedward believes only around 50 of Nationwide's original 160 personnel throughout the UK remain. The former managing director said in terms of debts, Nationwide was owed five times as much money as the company itself owed.

He revealed the root of the trouble stemmed from the £2 million acquisition of Bedford-based maintenance company Microcare last year which increased staff by 60.

Mr Bedward said he was unhappy with professional advice given prior to the purchase.

"It turned out Microcare wasn't as profitable as we were led to believe. Also, it wasn't as easy to integrate the two businesses and they were poles apart.

"The ambitions and visions of Microcare and Nationwide were totally different. The two just didn't fit together, to the detriment of the original business."

Although Mr Bedward had virtually a 100 per cent stake in Nationwide when he launched the company 13 years ago, the addition of financial partners latterly saw his control dilute to 45 per cent which represented less than a controlling share.

Disillusionment at the way Microcare was being run, and its detrimental impact on Bury-based Nationwide, forced Mr Bedward to consider quitting altogether.

"I threatened to resign in March and left the business in April," he said. "A week later the receivers were called in."

He also disclosed he had pulled out of negotiations to buy back the business.

Lawyers warned him because of new European legislation relating to transfer of undertakings, the new owners would be liable to meet redundancy payments and those involving unfair dismissal claims.

"That would have cost us in excess of £500,000," he said. Despite the setback, the Bury businessman and his original team have been overwhelmed by the support from Nationwide's customers who want them to maintain what he says was the company's "unrivalled" service.

He and his colleagues are currently meeting these demands and plan to continue doing so - either on a partnership basis with any new owners of the group or in co-operation with other northern-based telecommunication businesses.

Commenting on the situation, Mr Bedward said: "I'm shocked by many of the tactics that have been adopted and disturbed at what is going on in the company." The former TV "Flying Start" winners scooped the Bolton and Bury "Company of the Year" award in March.

"I'm only interested in supporting our valued customers."

Over the past 13 years, Mr Bedward had built up Nationwide into the UK's leading independent provider of telecommunication services.

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