MPs grill Sports Direct chairman over collapse of retail chain USC
MPS ACCUSED Sport Direct of running “a backstreet outfit” yesterday after chairman Keith Hellawell admitted the retailer had withheld a payment from Diesel to force it to keep supplying USC.
The Scottish affairs committee, led by chairman Ian Davidson, grilled Hellawell for two hours over the collapse of the retail chain after it was put into administration last month and bought out just a few days later by Republic, another Sports Direct firm.
Davidson said they had “callously and deliberately” developed a situation where the 200 employees at its Dundonald warehouse got 15 minutes’ notice, and berated the group for not providing sufficient time for consultation with staff – thereby breaking the law.
Hellawell rejected this, saying: “Our legal advice is that we did not break the law”. He later added he would ask “searching questions” of management over the tactic of withholding supplier payments.