STAFF at the collapsed Peeks party supplies store won an employment tribunal claim after complaining that they were not properly consulted over their redundancies.

The long-established Christchurch business was put in the hands of liquidators early in the Covid crisis last May.

In her latest update, liquidator Nicola Layland of Portland Business and Financial Solutions said the 25 staff had been helped to make claims to the government’s Redundancy Payments Office.

She said the team – who were made redundant while on furlough – also submitted a claim to an employment tribunal over lack of consultation.

The liquidators sought legal advice about defending the case but were told “it was not cost effective to do so”.

“The tribunal heard the claims of the employees and awarded in their favour,” the report said.

The Peeks business began in 1946 and sold partyware online, by mail order and from its shop in Reid Street.

The Covid crisis forced it to close at a key time of year, when it was expecting a boost from the 75th anniversary of VE Day as well as the Olympics and Euro 2020.

The liquidator’s report into Peeks of Bournemouth Limited said the company’s assets, including stock, fetched £74,400 at auction – more than had been expected.

There had been some interest in the goodwill of the company, including its name and the rights to its website. However, it emerged that the website domain name was rented from an IT provider and was not an asset of the company.

The business's records had shown it was owed £68,000 by debtors, with its director estimating that £54,000 could recovered.

However, the vast majority of debtors were closed because the pandemic and individual staff were on furlough. Some had already paid, sometimes into an old bank account, while others claimed their orders had not arrived or were damaged.

Ms Layland said just over £33,000 had been recovered, with another debt of around £1,000 still being pursued, but the rest would be “written off as uncollectable” or “not cost effective to pursue further”.

Only £5,000 had been collected in rent from two sub-tenants of the premises, including the Monkey Madness soft play attraction, which had been closed by the pandemic.

A debt due to Lloyds Bank was settled by director John Peek under a personal guarantee, but there is not expected to be any money for Nicholas and John Peek, who both held a floating charge over the company’s assets.

The business’s 14 trade creditors are not expected to receive any money, although some were helped to collect any stock they had supplied.

A number of finance companies arranged for the return of their goods.