A British classic car manufacturer once favoured by celebrities such as Sir Richard Branson and Bono is being put into liquidation.
Bristol Cars, which was founded in Filton in 1945 and is now headquartered in Surrey, reportedly owes millions of pounds to creditors, according to the Telegraph.
Companies House documents show a petition to wind up Bristol Cars was brought about by HMRC in December and by January the courts had ordered the company to pay its creditors through the sale of assets.
Bromley-based Liquidators Frost Group were then appointed in February, the public documents show.
Mr Frost told The Telegraph: “We’ve been told there are group companies with premises which are still working with people turning up for work, so the whole thing hasn’t gone, but our investigation should reveal the full extent of what was being done and when.”
It is not the first time the classic car maker has fallen into financial difficulty. Bristol Cars first went into administration in 2011 but was bought out by the current director Kamal Siddiqi.
In 2016, the car maker announced its comeback at Goodwood with a limited edition Bullet - a two seater speedster priced at £250,000. But the car reportedly did not go into production.
Bristol Cars was formed out of the Bristol Aeroplane Company - an enormous aircraft works in Filton that employed around 70,000 men and women during the Second World War.
When the war came to an end in 1945, the company began manufacturing cars in order to keep people employed. The vehicles were made to "aircraft standard", according to the Bristol Cars website.
The 400 was the first car to go into production. Inspired by the pre-war 326 and 328 BMWs, it had a top speed of 95.7mph and a six cylinder two-litre engine, making it unusually efficient for the time.
In 1960, the company became independent of the plane making business. The cars were later manufactured in a factory in Patchway, South Gloucestershire.
George White, the grandson of the original founder, sold his majority holding in Bristol Cars in 1973 to Anthony Crook, who sold to a consortium of businessmen in 1997.
