The company responsible for delivering Dundee’s e-bike hire scheme, backed by £50,000 from the public purse, collapsed with debts of close to £810,000.
Ride-On Scotland Ltd failed to pay around £770,000 to HMRC in pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) taxes and national insurance (NI) contributions.
The firm was liquidated in February 2023 after Ride-On stopped running the popular cycle-hire scheme in the winter of 2022.
And its substantial fleet of e-bikes — bought in part by Dundee City Council — has been sold by liquidators FRP Advisory.
The £50,974 raised by their sale has not been returned to the council and the local authority says it is not trying to recoup the funds.
And HMRC, listed as a secondary preferred creditor, will not be given a penny of the £770,000 owed.
Council approved Ride-On purchase
Councillors approved the purchase of bikes, using £50,000 in public funds provided by Transport Scotland’s Energy Saving Trust’s E-Bike Grant Fund, in 2019.
It was part of the local authority’s wider Dundee Cycling Strategy.
And the ringfenced cash was given to the council by Transport Scotland specifically for the purpose of introducing the Ride-On public e-bike hire scheme.
Having bought the e-bikes, the council then leased them to Ride-On in “exchange for discounted offers that can be used to extend the membership of the scheme to identified groups — including residents living in areas where there are low levels of bike ownership.”
The council contribution bought 60 bikes.
Ride-On Scotland had a fleet of around 200 bikes in Dundee, which were sold for £50,974.
Vans owned by the company were also sold, to the tune of around £25,000.
FRP Advisory were paid £60,596 for their liquidation work.
A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “Ride-On Scotland established their bike hire scheme in Dundee using private finance.
“A Scottish Government grant was secured by the council in 2019 to help support Ride-On Scotland with some of their infrastructure costs during the set-up period.
“The council does not consider itself a creditor and is not seeking the repayment of any money.”
Who owns Ride-On Scotland?
Ride-On Scotland Ltd was incorporated in October 2018, by Spain-based CEO Miguel Vital Huici.
Mr Vital Huici is still listed as the firm’s director on Companies House.
But in July 2020, significant control of the firm was given to Enzen Limited.
Mr Vital Huici told The Courier he did not wish to discuss the company’s downfall.
He also blamed the bankruptcy on Enzen, who did not respond to our request for comment.
The most recent accounts for Enzen Limited, who are not listed as directors of Ride-On Scotland, show the company made a pre-tax loss of more than £23 million to March 31 2023.
The firm is registered in Solihul, England.
It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enzen Global UK Ltd, whose address is also in Solihul.
Enzen Global UK Ltd reported a pre-tax profit of more than £7m to March 31 2023.
And they had a turnover of more than £48m in the same year.
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