Liverpool Council has won a high court battle with a collapsed contractor over payments for temporary fencing after an argument over a typo.
A hearing at Manchester High Court was told that an adjudicator's decision to order the local authority to pay £128,500 to Vital Infrastructure Asset Management (VIAM) had been reached in a “procedurally unfair manner.” The council had initially refused to pay the fee to VIAM, for maintenance of fencing plus interest, after the firm went into administration last summer.
That left a number of road schemes across the city half finished and the council scrambling to appoint a new contractor. The local authority made an insolvency application seeking permission to bring proceedings against the firm over the judgement.
