Support group or committee for the prosecution. You decide.
The Germans have a word for it: Schadenfreude – Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune. And for all the demolition industry’s claims of unity, solidarity and camaraderie, there has been Schadenfreude by the truckload following the news that Lee Demolition has sought to stave off outright financial collapse by proposing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to satisfy creditors.
Regardless of our moral standpoint on the validity of a CVA, it IS a legal device and although there might be some that would dispute it, it is almost certainly better than simply going under taking your debts and a number of your creditors with you.
Of course, creditors have every right to feel aggrieved. Some of the sums involved with the Lee Demolition CVA are life-changing and could still easily force a small company out of business or force a larger company to make some uncomfortable financial decisions.
But the fact remains that one of our own is in trouble. We could point accusatory fingers over Lee Demolition’s alleged low bidding practices – something the company itself addresses in its CVA proposal. We could take a Schadenfreude, there but for the grace of God delight in the fact that it is Lee Demolition and not our own company that finds itself in dire financial straits. Or maybe, just maybe, we could lend some moral support to a fellow industry man in his time of trouble.
The UK demolition industry has a simple choice to make over which shoulder it now lends to the team at Lee Demolition. Will it be the one to cry on; or will it be the cold one? Only you can decide.
