Concrete specialist J Reddington falls victim to hoax administration

Concrete specialist J Reddington has fallen victim to commercial sabotage, after hoaxers lodged a fake notice at Companies House incorrectly stating that the firm had been placed into administration.

The company confirmed the report is completely false, and said it has instructed lawyers and met with the police.

Reddington became aware of the bogus claim last Friday morning, when a credit rating agency flagged it up during a routine check.

Companies House, the register where private firms must file their trading details, said Reddington will have to seek a court order to get the administration claim removed from its records.

Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers was listed as administrator on the fake notice, but told Building it was never appointed to act for the firm.

A spokesperson for Reddington said: “Obviously there is a much wider concern for the industry when something like this can happen without warning, and without any reference to the party involved.

“The concern we would have is, what would happen were this to be a smaller business, without recourse to the legal, financial and administrative resources we can call upon at short notice?

“We are urging colleagues and partners elsewhere to be on alert.”