A multimillionaire used-car salesman was ousted from his £300m company after “a pre-conceived and orchestrated plan” devised by private equity investors that had backed his business, a high court judge has ruled.
Peter Waddell, 60, was forced out as the chief executive of the Kent-based dealership Big Motoring World in 2024 in a coup that resulted in “more-or-less open warfare” at the car seller and caused “unfair prejudice” to the investment company that held Waddell’s majority stake.
The judgment came despite Waddell also being found by Mr Justice Marcus Smith to have been “properly dismissed for gross misconduct” after allegations he made a series of racist and sexist remarks.
However, the judge further concluded that Big Motoring World’s private equity investor, Freshstream, did not address Waddell’s behaviour in order to later trap him and then attempt to seize full control of the business without paying for the shares via a pre-agreed contract known as a call option.
Smith said: “I have found the formation and execution of a pre-conceived and orchestrated plan which worked backwards from Freshstream’s aim of achieving permanent control of, and Mr Waddell’s removal from, the business without having to exercise the call option.
“Without question, there were matters that should – long before this point in time [2023] – have resulted in some form of disciplinary process against Mr Waddell, hopefully not resulting in dismissal but in imposing limits on someone who was (for all his serious faults) the gifted and duly appointed [chief executive] of Big.”
The judge went on to say that Freshstream allowed Waddell’s behaviour “to continue, unchecked, until Freshstream was in a position to cause Mr Waddell’s exclusion from Big”.
The tycoon, who is deaf and has dyslexia, has a backstory involving a childhood spent in care and a spell of homelessness before building up his multimillion-pound car business from scratch.
He ended up creating a company with 525 employees, revenues of £371m and profits of £6.6m, according to the 2021 annual accounts – a record that prompted Freshstream to acquire about a third of the business in April 2022, with the option of eventually acquiring Waddell’s remaining shares.
Waddell, who says that his manner of speaking was known to Freshstream before the company acquired its initial stake, claimed that a downturn in the company’s trading prompted his investors and colleagues to devise a plan to wrest control from him. Reflecting on the judgment he added that “justice had been done” and that he now wanted to reacquire the company.
A spokesperson for Freshstream said: “We welcome the judge’s findings that Peter Waddell was rightly dismissed for gross misconduct, including repeated acts of bullying and harassment (including sexual harassment). Further, we are pleased that a number of Mr Waddell’s claims in respect of [the holding company’s] exercise of its rights under the shareholders’ documents have failed. Therefore, Freshstream remains in control of the business.
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“It is disappointing that the judge has made a number of findings … in relation to steps … to address Mr Waddell’s conduct, despite his obvious acts of racism, misogyny and bullying.”
The spokesperson added that those accused of not taking action were “considering all available options with their legal teams”.
Remedies will be decided at a future hearing.
