News

Row over Mustang debts escalating

Published

11 years ago

June 16, 2014

don

A ROW over debts owed by Mustang Marine, the uncertainty over Murco oil refinery, and an ambitious £70m plan for the redevelopment of Milford Docks were the main topics of Milford Haven Port Authority’s annual meeting on Friday (May 30).

The chairman of Milford Haven Port Authority, Peter Jones, told a packed conference suite at the Cleddau Bridge hotel, that 2013 had been “a very difficult year” for the organisation, adding: “The £2.7m hole caused by the collapse of Mustang Marine was a matter of deep regret to us.” With a security guard keeping watch over proceedings, he went on to say that 2014 was set to also be a challenging year due to “the certainty over Murco Oil refinery which accounts for 20% of shipping movements on the haven.” Chief Executive of the authority, Alec Don, took to the podium next. He started off his speech by making his position clear over the failed boat building firm. With a handful of creditors sitting in the audience of the Annual Consultative Meeting he said firmly: “The legal position is that we are not liable for Mustang’s debts. Do we have a responsibility? Yes, we feel we have a responsibility, but not a legal liability.” He added: “We put resources in to help turn Mustang around, but it became clear that it wasn’t just a management problem. Once administration had occurred we worked with the administrator to ensure he could sell parts of the firm to people or new managers who could take those business forward. Mr. Don announced that Milford Haven engineering firm BDS was taking over the dry dock for at least the next five years, and a new firm called Haven Marine Services would be taking over some of the boat repair work. Both of these deals, he said, had secured the employment of some of the former Mustang workers. Bruce Evens, of Evens & Co. Accountants – at the meeting representing creditors of Mustang – took the mic and said that he had help found Haven Marine Services as a community interest company (CIC), but with the idea of putting profits back into a pot for creditors. He said that MHPA had agreed to give £10,000 by way of a grant to the CIC, but Mr. Evans said that MHPA should be doing more. He added: “Perhaps MHPA can find a way to help the community further. The problem that Haven Marine Services is new – making a profit will take time. What the creditors need is more help now. We have just seen that MHPA has got £9m sat in the bank right now.” He added: “Most people think that if it swims like a duck, and if it quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. We have to work together as a county. Many of the creditors did business with Mustang on the understanding that it was a subsidiary of MHPA. Alec Don then told the meeting: “We as the port are not seeking to recover our losses from the CIC, so that assists the CIC to help the local community” later adding: We’re not a charity. We have gone way beyond what any other commercial organisation would have done in terms of making sure that there were the resources around management and other issues to see that opportunity emerge.” He added: “What we had in Mustang was a 50% share, if we wanted a 60% or a 70% share then we would have bought a 60% or a 70% share.” But one creditor was not impressed. Mr Jo Polak of JP Junior Scaffolding, who is owed over £40,000 asked Mr Don one question. He said: “Would you please tell me if you think that the small, local businesses [who were working with Mustang] would have let the credit get so high unless they thought that Mustang was being backed by the Port Authority as a 50% shareholder?” Mr Don answered by saying he did not know what those businesses thought. Mr. Don told the meeting that outline planning permission had been submitted to Pembrokeshire County Council for the Milford Docks Master Plan “today.” He said that the plan, which The Herald has covered in detail in previous weeks, would create 600 jobs. To his critics who have said that the plans are too ambitious Mr. Don said: “We’ll its happening, in fact, we have already started with the Milford Dock Lock project, which itself is a £6m investment for us.” We have a separate article in this edition of The Herald about the master plan. The project, he said, would help develop tourism, leisure and fishing in the county. “The are currently 617 people employed at the port not including the oil refineries.” “Our aim is to increase that to 2000 jobs by 2020” he said. Speaking on the telephone on Wednesday, a spokesman for KO Carpets who are owed £4246 by Mustang Marine for fitting floors and carpets for boats told the Herald that they were “disappointed with the whole affair”

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

39 minutes ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.

Business

First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines
docked at Pembroke Port yesterday afternoon last week, marking the start of physical
deliveries for the multi-million-pound renewable energy project.

The Maltese-registered general cargo vessel Peak Bergen berthed at Pembroke Dock on
shortly after 4pm on Wednesday 26th November, bringing tower sections and other heavy
components for the three Enercon turbines that will eventually stand on land adjacent to the
existing gas terminal at Waterston.

A second vessel, the Irish-flagged Wilson Flex IV, has arrived in Pembroke Port today is
due to arrive in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) carrying the giant rotor blades.
The deliveries follow a successful trial convoy on 25 November, when police-escorted low-
loader trailers carried dummy loads along the planned route from the port through
Pembroke, past Waterloo roundabout and up the A477 to the Dragon LNG site.

Dragon LNG’s Community and Social Performance Officer, Lynette Round, confirmed the
latest movements in emails to the Herald.

“The Peak Bergen arrived last week yesterday with the first components,” she said. “We are
expecting another delivery tomorrow (Thursday) onboard the Wilson Flex IV. This will be
blades and is currently showing an ETA of approximately 03:30.”

The £14.3 million project, approved by Welsh Ministers last year, will see three turbines with
a combined capacity of up to 13.5 MW erected on company-owned land next to the LNG
terminal. Once operational – expected in late 2026 – they will generate enough electricity to
power the entire site, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

Port of Milford Haven shipping movements showed the Peak Bergen approaching the Haven
throughout Wednesday morning before finally tying up at the cargo berth in Pembroke Dock.

Cranes began unloading operations yesterday evening.

The Weather conditions are currently were favourable for this morning’s the arrival of
the Wilson Flex IV, which was tracking south of the Smalls at midnight.

The abnormal-load convoys carrying the components from the port to Waterston are
expected to begin early next year, subject to final police and highway approvals.

A community benefit fund linked to the project will provide training opportunities and energy-
bill support for residents in nearby Waterston, Llanstadwell and Neyland.
Further updates will be issued by Dragon LNG as the Port of Milford Haven as the delivery
programme continues.

Photo: Martin Cavaney

Crime

Banned for 40 months after driving with cocaine breakdown product in blood

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Sarah-Jane Absalom

A MILFORD HAVEN woman has been handed a lengthy driving ban after admitting driving with a controlled drug in her system more than ten times over the legal limit.

SENTENCED AT HAVERFORDWEST

Sally Allen, 43, of Wentworth Close, Hubberston, appeared before Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Dec 4) for sentencing, having pleaded guilty on November 25 to driving with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the prescribed limit.

The court heard that Allen was stopped on August 25 on the Old Hakin Road at Tiers Cross while driving an Audi A3. Blood analysis showed 509µg/l of Benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine. The legal limit is 50µg/l.

COMMUNITY ORDER AND REHABILITATION

Magistrates imposed a 40-month driving ban, backdated to her interim disqualification which began on November 25.

Allen was also handed a 12-month community order, requiring her to complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities as directed by the Probation Service.

She was fined £120, ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 surcharge. Her financial penalties will be paid in £25 monthly instalments from January 1, 2026.

The bench—Mrs H Roberts, Mr M Shankland and Mrs J Morris—said her guilty plea had been taken into account when passing sentence.