Family businesses still go bankrupt after leaving all their savings in the loss-making company in recent years.
With the bankruptcy of Taxi company Gebr. De Groot BV from Leiden is disappearing again, a beautiful family business in the taxi and healthcare transport sector. When Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 10.06 am the judge in The Hague declared bankruptcy pronounced of the Leiden company, founded in 1923, almost 100 years of working with heart and soul was lost. Whether there will be a restart is currently unclear and is in the hands of curator mr MM Hoving.
scramble up
Thumbs up trustees will soon be able to get to work in the approaching wave of bankruptcy. Entrepreneurs still refuse to give up the dream, but the water is on their lips and some are already making the decision themselves to pull the plug.
Not only the scenarios in the shopping streets of bakers and butchers are food for thought. Struggling for taxi companies after a corona wave, and that on the eve of mandatory heavy investments in a new electrified vehicle fleet, is too difficult for many taxi entrepreneurs. On the eve of a recession and skyrocketing inflation, many consumers are abandoning taxi rides. Many taxi companies indicate that they are still missing about thirty percent of the much-needed turnover and therefore still run into problems.
"We see better than anyone how hard it is currently for taxi companies to pay the invoices monthly. The increasing counter-booking of direct debits by banks is also a barometer for us that the sector is not doing well."
Many businesses were able to survive during the pandemic. Postponement of payments, agreements with banks, suppliers or tax authorities and NOW or corona support kept entrepreneurs afloat. Now it's going downhill fast. Due to the absence of consumers who keep their hands on the money, high fuel prices and a shortage in the labor market, which means that not all contracts are properly executed, companies have to pull the emergency brake.
And there is more going on than just a shortage in the labor market. According to figures, we are heading for a wave of bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2023. More entrepreneurs are expected to end up in special management departments later this year. Now that entrepreneurs have to cough up a reservoir of deferred taxes, the dominoes will fall.
savings
Family businesses still go bankrupt after leaving all their savings in the loss-making company in recent years. Street taxi companies are having a hard time and, against their better judgement, will continue until the bottom is reached. In addition, it will also become more difficult to continue because the upcoming wage increases are no longer affordable. Unions pull out all the stops during negotiations and put employers in many sectors with their backs against the wall, on pain of an imminent strike.
After passing on all those price increases to the consumer, they will leave the taxi behind from now on. That is no longer possible for most consumers now that inflation is over 12 percent. The street taxi is becoming a sector in need. Once a lemon is squeezed, it's done and there's nothing left to get.
It should be clear by now that there is division in Taxi and Healthcare transport about the policy pursued. The sector is characterized in two groups, namely target group transport and street taxi. Most contracts with transport companies are linked to the NEA index. This means that the principals, in many cases semi-government, healthcare institution or municipality, cough up the increases. This is different with street taxis because it immediately affects the consumer in his wallet, so the entrepreneur can hardly charge anything extra for his high costs. At the beginning of this year, the NEA index was still set at 3.5%, but from 1 January 2023 this will be at least between 13 and 15 percent.
employees
Employers and trade unions have made agreements in the Taxi Transport Collective Labor Agreement to grant certain rights to employees whose employer has gone bankrupt, but who continue the transport with another employer. Social Fund Mobility monitors the correct implementation of the scheme. If a taxi company is involved in taking over a transport contract as a result of bankruptcy and you ask to be employed for the purpose of this transport contract, you are initially entitled to a MUP contract.
Have you experienced bankruptcy and a restart at the taxi company you work for? Then the chain scheme is important for you. This arrangement determines whether or not you are entitled to a permanent contract with a possible new employer. The chain regulation is a statutory regulation. The scheme determines whether you are entitled to an employment contract for an indefinite period of time (permanent contract). Have you had more than 3 temporary contracts? Or have you worked for 24 months under temporary contracts? Then you should get a permanent contract. This is not the case if there is a break of 6 months between your contracts. Then you start counting again.
last resort
With the WHOA (Private Agreement Homologation Act), the WHOA scheme was introduced in the Bankruptcy Act (Fw) on 1 January 2021. Based on this, the rechtbank approve (homologation) a private agreement between a company and its creditors and shareholders, if this can prevent the debtor's bankruptcy. The homologation means that the plan is binding on all creditors and shareholders involved in the plan. The intention is that this arrangement will strengthen the amicable debt rescheduling and restructuring process. The possibility of homologation will serve as a 'last resort'.
appearance
According to economists, there is still no question of a crisis. In many cases, entrepreneurs want to avoid bankruptcy and pull the plug themselves to limit the damage. But at that moment the personal damage is no longer foreseeable. A recent example of this takes place in Dordrecht, Amstelveen and Aalsmeer. For aldermen it is a matter of looking for another carrier to maintain political peace, but for a family left behind it is a period of much misery and a dream that bursts like a bubble.
