VMS Fleet Management, a UK contract hire and fleet management company, has entered administration after 24 years of trading, leading to 136 redundancies. The firm, which operated approximately 6,570 vehicles nationwide, will be wound down after administrators failed to secure a buyer.
Financial Difficulties and Winding-Up Petition
The company was pushed into administration after being served a winding-up petition, with financial difficulties cited as the driving force. Barclays Bank served the petition last week, and a separate petition was lodged by HMRC on September 9, due to be heard later this month.
Jeremy Karr, Simon Killick and Joanne Louise Hammond of BTG Begbies Traynor LLP were appointed as administrators on Tuesday, October 20, according to The Gazette.
Redundancies and Administration Process
A total of 136 employees have been made redundant, while 24 staff have been retained to assist with the administration process, according to Fleet News. The firm's fleet was utilised by high-profile clients including Iceland, and its services included vehicle provision, maintenance, and refrigeration services.
Jeremy Karr of BTG Begbies Traynor LLP told Fleet News: "We begin a controlled wind down of the business, our immediate priority is to manage the unavoidable redundancies and associated employee claims, secure physical assets, pursue debtor recoveries and begin investigations into the asset position and the conduct of the business to realise value and deliver the best outcome for creditors."
Attempts to Sell the Business
Administrators initially attempted to sell the business as a going concern, but no viable offers were forthcoming. Karr continued: "BTG was approached by the bank as the qualifying floating charge holder of VMS Fleet Management and introduced to the company to provide options advice after it had experienced a series of financial challenges. As a sale of the business as a going concern was not able to be achieved, the directors invited the bank to appoint us as joint administrators."
According to the latest official figures, 182 businesses entered administration in August, a 60% rise compared to August 2025. The average monthly number of administrations during the first eight months of 2026 was 36% higher than the 2025 monthly average. The Gazette reports that this surge was driven by a spike in cases between March and August 2026, during which more than 250 connected companies in the real estate sector went into administration.
