Roadchef

Roadchef was founded in July 1973 by Lindley Catering Investments and Galleon World Travel.[1][4] In 1986, Patrick Gee, the managing director of the company, set up an employee benefit scheme to give ordinary workers shares in the company. On Gee's early death, Timothy Ingram Hill took over as managing director, having helped lead a management buyout of the company in 1983. Having been one of the original trustees of the employee benefit scheme, he set up a second scheme, to which he was the sole beneficiary, and secretly transferred the bulk of the employees' shares to the second scheme,[5] leaving ordinary workers with a much reduced scheme.[6]

In May 1998, the company was sold to Japanese investors. It was later revealed that £29 million of shares that should have been distributed to ordinary workers through the employee ownership scheme (REBTL) had been transferred to Tim Ingram Hill, one of the management team. Tim Warwick, who worked as Roadchef's company secretary at the time of the transfer, blew the whistle on the transfer. A prolonged legal battle ensued, the courts declaring the transaction void and ordering Mr Ingram Hill to repay the profit he made from the shares he appropriated.[7] Subsequently, the trustees of the scheme discovered that £10 million had been paid in tax on the appropriated shares by Mr Ingram Hill. This was recovered by the trustees, as the transfer had been declared legally void. However, HMRC continued to insist that a large amount of tax should be paid by the trustees, as the shares were in the possession of Mr Ingram Hill in 2003, when the government passed legislation to make such employee share schemes tax-free.[8] The trustees argued that the shares should not be taxed in any distribution to the ordinary workers, as the scheme clearly would have been included in the tax-free category, had Mr Ingram Hill not appropriated the shares for his own gain. The simple solution of retrospectively adding the Roadchef employee benefit scheme to the list of tax-free schemes was also pointed out by the trustees. It was reported in July 2019 by the Emloyee Benefit Trust's trustee that the ongoing dispute with HMRC is the only remaining obstacle to the distribution of the money to the ordinary workers, and that the current Roadchef management have been fully supportive of the process.[9] An Early Day Motion was tabled in Parliament in September 2019 by Neil Gray MP, who has campaigned extensively on behalf of the staff, criticising HMRC for failing to resolve the dispute.[10][11] Neil Gray raised the issue once again during Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament in January 2020, in response to which, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that he would ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to "discuss the matter." [12] Several other MPs have added their support to a tax-free distribution of the money, including Dr Julian Lewis MP,[13] David Mundell MP,[14] Martyn Day MP,[15] and Jessica Morden MP.[16] As of September 2020, due to the dispute with HMRC, the money has still not been distributed to the staff who should have received it.[8]

Over the years Roadchef acquired a portfolio of 21 sites. A large expansion occurred in 1998 when Roadchef agreed to purchase Blue Boar Group and Take A Break for £80 million and thus proceeded to integrate these acquisitions into an enlarged Roadchef Group. At the time, Blue Boar was the fourth largest operator of motorway services areas in the UK with three operational sites and one development site. The acquired Watford Gap site was the first motorway service area to be opened in the UK in 1959 and is one of the UK's best known sites. A few years ago (according to Google Finance), "Roadchef Motorways was one of the largest Motorway Services Area (MSA) operators in the UK, with 21 sites representing 24% of the market and serving some 60 million visitors each year."[17]

In September 2014, it was announced that owners Delek Group were selling Roadchef to Antin Infrastructure Partners for £153 million.[18]

Roadchef motorway service areas have varying facilities. All sites provide two hours free parking, toilets and food 24 hours a day, seven days a week.[19]

• Roadchef Official Website
• Motorway Services Online - Roadchef