Let’s deal with first things first.
The collapse of any company is to be regretted and my thoughts are with the near 100 former workers of Scottish Electric Group who are now facing an uncertain future.
Redundancy at any stage in a career is unsettling and I hope those affected get the help and support they require to dust themselves down and move on with their lives.
Hopefully, the amount of new-build work going on in the city means they will be back picking up a regular wage sooner rather than later.
But there is another element to this – SEG owner Thomas John Stodart.
I have met Mr Stodart on one occasion. We shook hands on the day he was revealed as the new owner of Muirfield Contracts, then Dundee’s largest independent building firm.
In March 2015, Muirfield collapsed owing millions and almost 300 staff were out of a job.
Mr Stodart was nowhere to be seen and would not answer phone calls.
I even travelled to Majorca in the hope of speaking with him about the Muirfield situation.
But that was to no avail.
Fast forward to the present day and, as SEG’s owner, Mr Stodart is again involved in a business in Dundee that has suddenly collapsed.
On this occasion, he did return my call.
Mr Stodart claims to have invested cash that may now have disappeared and is seeking answers.
Fair enough – I hope he gets what he is looking for.
But Mr Stodart would do well to remember he is not the only person seeking clarity.
There are still scores of people in Dundee trying to figure out why Muirfield collapsed.
They too wanted answers but didn’t get them.
