Tow.com.au crash effects to linger

THE events which precipitated the demise of Brisbane-based Tow.com.au at the weekend are likely to continue festering for quite a while.

Tow.com.au CEO Dominic Holland. Picture: AAP Image/Claudia Baxter

• Founder lets rip announcing liquidation

TOW CRASHES

The so-called Uber of the towing world is dead just four years after it shook up the industry.

But, much to the chagrin of the Queensland Government, the events which precipitated the demise of Brisbane-based Tow.com.au at the weekend are likely to continue festering for quite a while.

Tow founder and boss Dominic Holland appointed Ginette Muller, principal of GM Advisory, as liquidator of the company late on Saturday.

Holland told City Beat yesterday that he took the drastic action because he no longer had the cash or the will to keep battling the Government in court.

“I just can’t keep fighting that fight. I don’t have the funds. It’s not viable to continue so I took the logical next step,’’ he said.

Illustration of Dominic Holland by Brett Lethbridge.

Tow sued the Government late last year for $15.4 million allegedly owing from a deal to supply towing and vehicle storage services following the introduction of anti-hooning legislation in 2013.

The Government countered that the contract did not allow Tow to charge for the storage cost of forfeited cars.

In a rare twist on the usual company collapse, Holland estimates the company’s assets, valued at more than $30 million, outstrip its liabilities by a factor of more than 10.

That means all the creditors, including tow truck drivers from across the country chasing hundreds of thousands of dollars, seem certain to get paid out.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Yet accessing that $30 million-plus windfall won’t be easy, a fact which underscores why the current cash crunch proved fatal for the company.

That money is the total amount owed by debtors and Holland flagged plans earlier this month to sell the entire amount to debt collectors as a way out of his financial predicament.

Dominic Holland, founder of tow.com.au, pictured in 2015. Picture: Ric Frearson

But, with the private information of about 12,000 Queenslanders at stake, the Government secured a court injunction requiring Holland to turn over the data and destroy his own records.

Holland won a week-long extension last Thursday and now the matter is in the hands of Tow liquidator, Muller.

She is currently awaiting legal advice before deciding how to proceed on the thorny issue and declined to comment yesterday on how it might play out.

One option at her disposal to claw back debt, of course, would be to start suing thousands of vehicle owners, including plenty of regular mums and dads.

While that seems an unlikely scenario, it wouldn’t look good if some of the blame could be sheeted back to the Government.

Also still unclear is whether she will continue the long-running $15.4 million legal battle with the Government.

The merits of the case and funding at her disposal will decide the matter, Muller said.

As for Holland, a weight has been lifted from his shoulders, freeing him up to explore new start-up options.

“It’s onwards and upwards,’’ he said.

“I’ve spent 80 per cent of the last two years trying to manage this dispute. So I get 80 per cent of my time back.’’

EPIC TECH FAIL

Speaking of start-ups, it seems there was a rather cringe-inducing fail at an enormous Thai tech conference at the weekend attended by Brisbane incubator QUT Creative Enterprise Australia.

The final event at the delightfully-named Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok was a “pitch-off” in which start-up bosses from around the world presented their spiel and faced a grilling from a Shark Tank-style panel.

In chaotic scenes reminiscent of big awards bloopers of recent years, the winner was declared to be Australia.

It wasn’t until the gang from Sydney-based “victor” Inspace XR was halfway through congratulatory handshakes that it emerged the real winner was “Austria”.