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Former Whangārei Mayor Stan Semenoff says if it weren’t for the New Zealand Transport Agency, his logging truck business would still be up and running.
A vehicle parts business is chasing Whangārei’s former mayor Stan Semenoff for more than $30,000 it claims it is still owed to it by his defunct log trucking business.
On December 8, last year, the New Zealand arm of Australian-owned trucking parts business Multispares Ltd filed an application in the High Court at Whangārei to have Stan Semenoff Logging Ltd (SSLL) put into liquidation.
Multispares NZ Ltd claims SSLL owes it $32,014.25 (GST inclusive) in respect of an invoice for products held in remote stores, together with interest and legal costs.
Multispares had tried to get SSLL to pay the invoice last December but the company was insolvent and unable to pay its debts.
Given that, it was “just and equitable” for SSLL to be put into liquidation, Multispares claimed.
Semenoff says he doesn’t intend to oppose the application – there was no point as he had closed the business with its 50-plus-strong fleet, more than three years ago.
And he still blames NZTA for its demise.
“It was “nothing to do with us really”, he said.
“If it wasn’t for NZTA it [SSLL] would still be going,” albeit the business had “also struggled to get good staff”, he said.
During 2019, Semenoff was embroiled in a year-long court battle with the transport agency over alleged breaches of the trucking company’s obligations under safety legislation. After three years of warnings and two NZTA audits, the agency wanted Semenoff stripped of his operating licence.
However, it later dropped the case saying the fleet had since been made safe by the addition of electronic logbooks and GPS and would be audited again within six months.
While he won that case, he tried unsuccessfully the following year to appeal the imposition of $532,878 in road user fees, which the NZTA said related to SSLL repeatedly running its trucks overweight for 10 months between July 2016 and April 2017.
The Multispares claim, scheduled to be heard in the High Court on April 8, was advertised last week in the New Zealand Gazette.
Other potential creditors were advised to ensure they filed applications to appear at the hearing, no later than two days ahead of it.
The claim and supporting affidavit can be viewed, free of charge, at the High Court in Whangārei and Auckland.