Second Hartlepool Construction Firm Faces High Court Liquidation..
- teessidetoday
- Jan 23
- 2 min read
HMRC Petitions High Court to Wind Up Another Hartlepool Based Construction Firm Just Days After Another Local Firm Faces Insolvency.
23rd Jan 2026
A Second Hartlepool-based construction firm is facing possible closure after being petitioned to the High Court by HM Revenue and Customs over alleged unpaid tax liabilities.
High Tunstall Construction Ltd has been served with a winding-up petition under the Insolvency Act 1986, placing the company at risk of compulsory liquidation through the courts. The action's reportedly been brought by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs, who are listed as creditors of the business.
Court records seen by the Teesside & Durham Post confirm that the petition was presented on 5th December 2025 and has been issued in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Companies Court, under reference CR-2025-008637 of 2025. The case is scheduled to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 4 February 2026 at 10.30am, when a judge will decide whether the company should be wound up.
A winding-up petition is said to be one of the most serious enforcement actions available to creditors and, if granted, would result in the compulsory liquidation of the business, the appointment of an official liquidator and the immediate loss of control by the company’s directors. Assets would then be seized and sold, with any proceeds distributed to creditors, and the firm ordered to cease trading.
The High Court action comes against a backdrop of worsening financial indicators in the company’s most recent published accounts, where unaudited financial statements for the year ending 28 February 2025 show that the company was already operating with net liabilities, with debts exceeding its available assets. The accounts record current assets of £154,163, while creditors due within one year stood at £173,390, leaving the business in a negative net current position, with overall liabilities exceeding its assets, placing the company in balance-sheet insolvency.
The accounts also reveal financial exposure through director loan arrangements and a significant exceptional loss., where its claimed a Directors loan of £86,821 was made to another company, which has since entered liquidation. The debt was subsequently written off as unrecoverable by the liquidators of that company, further weakening the firm’s financial position. Director loan balances were also recorded as outstanding at the end of the financial year, with interest charged at HMRC’s official rate.
High Tunstall Construction Ltd is registered at Hub 2, The Innovation Centre, Queens Meadow Business Park, Venture Court, Hartlepool, and is listed under company number 14681006. HMRC, the primary creditor of the business is said to be represented in the proceedings by its General Counsel and Solicitor, based in Stratford, London.
Unless the petition is settled, withdrawn or successfully opposed, the High Court will have the power to order the compulsory winding up of the company. Such an order would bring High Tunstall Construction Ltd’s trading operations to an immediate end and trigger a statutory liquidation process overseen by the Official Receiver.
The case is set to be determined in London next month..
