After several years campaigning for half-decent redundancy payments, 6,500 ex-MG Rover employees are likely to see just £3.

Despite the so-called 'Phoenix Four' directors pocketing around £42m from MG Rover in total, there are assets left to the workers worth just £22,000.

Penions Tools & Tips

Your career


The 'Phoenix Four'

The trustees of the money left for MG workers say they will again attempt to make contact with the Phoenix Four millionaires - John Towers, Nick Stephenson, John Edwards and Peter Beale, plus ex-chief executive Kevin Howe - to see if they will make personal donations to the fund. (All four are now disqualified from being company directors following an investigation by The Insolvency Service.)

The trustees strongly feel that the men should return much of the money they took out from MG Rover to the workers. However, it's not looking good.

Penions Tools & Tips

Your career



Originally ex-chairman John Towers estimated the value of the assets of Phoenix Venture Holdings assets could be worth as much as up to £30m. But that was before the banks took their cut.

Bank grab

Earlier this week, the Phoenix Venture Holdings case against administrators PWC paying HBOS bank £12m was dismissed by the High Court.

Lloyds, an owner of HBOS - a major lender to MG Rover - claims it is entitled to the cash because it claimed it made losses from its MG Rover entanglement. "We therefore have a duty to our shareholders, including the taxpayer, to try to minimise these losses."

The Trustees of the fund will appeal to the Phoenix Four to see if they will make personal donations to the MG Rover workers. Director Nick Stephenson now is thought to be living in Florida while John Edwards has a nine-bed country house in the Cotswolds, an owner of two light planes.

John Towers has several homes and was recently refurbishing a £1.5m country retreat in the South of France while accountant Peter Beale retired to a Worcestershire manor house.

£3 cut to £2.50

It should be noted that none of the directors technically broke the law. But they enriched themselves massively, while causing the taxpayer to cough up an additional £16m in order to produce a 800-page report (£20,000 a page) about the affair subsequently.

More money going to lawyers, accountants etc. And a report that did not offer any criticism of the Government's role. Meanwhile ex-Rover owner, BMW, quickly quit the scene taking new New Mini.

Three quid left each, then. Minus the second class stamp (50p) to send the cheque. So, £2.50 to each of the 6,500 workers. Enough to buy one Pret A Manger sandwich.

10 worst-paid jobs

10 worst-paid jobs



More stories