ALLDERS' former bosses could be facing legal action amid allegations that thousands of pounds owed to concession traders has gone missing.
Monique Rebeiro, who ran the Hatz concession in the now defunct North End department store, told the Advertiser she is owed £24,000.
She claims that under an agreement with the store's former owners, takings were supposed to go into a trust fund to protect her and a number of other concessions if Allders ran into financial problems.
Ms Rebeiro explained that the system worked by paying all her takings to Allders, which was supposed to take out rent and other expenses before returning the rest of the money to her at the end of each month.
She said that for a few months before the store went into administration the money had dried up, but she was not too worried because she believed she was safe because of the trust fund.
Since the administration, although she received some money from the administrators while she continued to trade, she has received nothing of the £24,000 she claims she was already owed.
Last week, Ms Rebeiro and the others were hit hard when they learned that an investigation in Allders' finances by administrators, Duff & Phelps, had found no evidence of the existence of any trust accounts.
Ms Rebeiro said: "They have told us to seek legal advice and we are looking at whether we can work together continue to fight through legal channels."
She believed any challenge would have to be aimed at the store's former bosses.
Ms Rebeiro added: "We had carried on trading because we believed we had an agreement which meant our money was safe.
"Now I have nothing and basically it seems as if the money had been stolen."
Ms Rebeiro is now weighing up whether or not she can afford to embark on what could be costly and fruitless legal challenge.
She added: "I feel what I need to be doing is concentrating on rebuilding my business."
