I lost a Mercedes whilst in storage, the storage company went into liquidation. Mine had been sold overseas and 12 other Mercedes had previously been sold, to a connected UK party without the knowledge of their owners. THe DVLA had not been notified, so the V5 were not updated and the vehicle owners were not therefore made aware of the sales. Mine was permanently exported so DVLA should have been notified.

The Police were involved, but because the storage contracts also had conditions allowing the company to act as Brokers and sell the cars on commission basis and to enter into sale agreements for vehicles, the company claimed they were authorised to sell the vehicles, but didn't pay the owners and so they became unsecured creditors and got nothing. The Police therefore decline to act, as they considered it a commercial matter..The company could prove it had in the past stored and then sold cars on a commission basis, obviously giving the net proceeds to the owners.

All the cars were on the owners Road Traffic Act (RTA) insurance with the except of mine which was on a storage policy (also covering theft) and I had added a Romalpa clause to the contract ( retention of title) having heard of similar events happening in the past.

All the cars under RTA unfortunately got nothing, the insurers refused to pay , as the owners had given the keys of the cars to the company (for maintenance and moving cars in storage. But because I had a Romalpa clause so the car always remained my property and a specific storage policy which covered theft from storage, I was paid out in full as the car was considered stolen not sold..

During the creditors meeting, I tried to prove at least Wrongful or Fraudulent Trading by the DIrector, with clear acts by the Director to not notify DVLA was IMHO fraudulent intent etc. hoping they would become personally responsible and be made to contribute from their personal assets towards any unsecured creditors. Whilst the Director was found to have wrongfully traded, he had no assets of substance that weren't already financed to the hilt, so no funds, but he was banned for 12 years and was quite lucky to have dodged a prison sentence had fraudulent trading been proven. Eventually only 7 cars of the 13 cars were found to have been sold without the owner's consent by the liquidator's.

So if as a creditor in an insolvency do your utmost ( if evidence to support fraudulent intent) at the Creditors Meeting etc. to draw the acts of the DIrectors to the Liquidator's attention, so hopefully wrongful or fraudulent trading is pursued and Directors ( as appropriate) may become personally liable to contribute from their personal assets to the liquidation to help creditors and possibly face prison for fraud...