THE businessman who blockaded a failing York firm in a bid to get £67,000 which he was owed now thinks he'll be lucky to get 5 pence in the pound after it went into administration.

Nick Germani says he is 'devastated' after administrators were appointed yesterday for York Mailing of Elvington, leaving him a creditor.

Mr Germani, part owner of Showcase Pallets, said earlier this week that he was awaiting about £67,000 in payment for more than 8,000 pallets which he had delivered to the firm in recent months.

He said the loss of such a sum could sink a small business such as his, and he parked a lorry outside the entrance on Tuesday to prevent other lorries gaining entry, and said he wouldn't leave until he had been paid.

He did the same on Wednesday with a van but then abandoned the action on Thursday after the business went into administration.

Meanwhile, a union official says he will be writing to members who have lost their jobs at York Mailing to make a claim for a 'protective award' relating to a failure to consult with them before they were made redundant.

Unite official Darren Rushworth said the Government would pick up the redundancy costs at statutory rates.

"The weekly wage is capped, they can claim for other losses but again capped," he said, adding that the failure of the business would cost the taxpayer millions.