I remember thinking it was illegal the first time it happened to me. It involved a business based on a trading estate in the east midlands, not far from
where I was based. I went there one day to try to get some money out of someone who had bought something from me, and was refused the cash. When I went back two days later, everything was exactly the same apart from the name plate over the trader’s shop window and the fact that the filing cabinets had been thrown away because they contained all the creditors’ records. There was a brand-new sign but it was an old business.
The provision on the late payment of commercial debts is part of a package of measures that will transform the ability of small businesses to carry out their business.