Gidget Retro Teardrop Camper creditors have reason to cry

THE news just gets worse for creditors of failed caravan manufacturer Gidget Retro Teardrop Camper. Liquidators says they are unlikely to see one cent.

Liquidators says creditors of Gidget Retro Teardrop Camper are unlikely to see one cent.

OFF ROAD

THE news just gets worse for creditors of failed caravan manufacturer Gidget Retro Teardrop Camper. Liquidator Worrells says the Brendale-based maker of the tear-shaped lightweight vans owes creditors more than $6 million, of which they are unlikely to see one cent.

Worrells’ Lee Crosthwaite says the company failed after an overseas financier ceased funding and it had inadequate working capital to continue operations.

But that was not before 79 hapless customers had placed hefty deposits totalling $1.7 million on the vans that cost up to $60,000 each. The Brisbane Magistrates Court has ordered the company pay compensation of $1.15 million to affected consumers but Crosthwaite has warned there is unlikely to be any return to creditors. Gidget director Glenn Willsis due to front the court in June on various charges under the Australian Consumer Law related to the company’s collapse.

CRASH AND BURN

THE Rotary Club of Brisbane is breaking out the magic mushrooms, ecstasy and cannabis to teach young people about the dangers of drug driving.

Your diarist hastens to add that the illicit substances are not real, but part of a simulated virtual reality software program that allows young people to “experience” the effects of drugs on their driving ability. Club president Daniel Vankov tells us that drug driving now contributes to a staggering 41 per cent of road fatalities in Australia.

The club teamed up with QUT and the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland to offer the 3D program in the Queen Street Mall earlier this week and there are plans for a similar event on the QUT campus in July.

Vankov says young people strap on virtual reality glasses, with the scenario involving a trip to a disco where the virtual illicit drugs are taken. They then get behind the wheel of a virtual car where the effects of the drugs are simulated, usually ending in disaster.

“They learn what it’s like to drive a car while drunk, on ecstasy, high on cannabis and tripping on magic mushrooms,” Vankov says. “It teaches them how their perception of reality, and therefore their driving competence, is affected.”

Vankov knows his stuff as he is currently completing his doctorate at QUT into safe driving behaviour.

It’s shaping up to be a big year for the Rotary Club of Brisbane, with the organisation celebrating its 95th anniversary.

STEAK STAKE

AUSTRALIAN Agricultural Company (AACo) chief executive Hugh Killen has splashed out just short of $100,000 for a stake in the beef producer. Killen, who joined the company in February, purchased 83,000 shares through his family superannuation fund for about $1.19 a piece on May 25. AACo’s shares have dropped 34 per cent in the past year as it struggled with high cattle prices. It has reported an annual loss of nearly $103 million and is mothballing its unprofitable abattoir in the Northern Territory. The shares closed yesterday at $1.24.

FRANCHISING BELIEVER

FRANCHISING has copped a lot of flak recently, but there are still a lot of true believers out there. Franchising expert Brian Keen will talk to Wynnum business folk on June 14 about how the model can be used effectively to expand a business. Keen has spent 30 years working in the franchise industry and is the author of How to Franchise My Business – Simply. In his time he has built up six franchise groups, with more than 120 outlets between them. Keen will speak at a lunch put on by Wynnum Business at the Waterloo Bay Hotel.