Big Cars has ceased trading with immediate effect, closing the doors of its used car dealerships and laying off staff a decade after it was founded by entrepreneur Adam Stott.

Stott told AM that the business had not been placed into administration and insisted that “customer service remains our key concern” but admitted that he had received “numerous threats” since the business closed its doors on Friday (January 26). 

Websites attached to the business’s Witham and Sudbury sites have now been closed down but Stott said that staff were working at the Witham site to answer calls from customers today.

The sudden closure of Big Cars marks a dramatic change of fortune for the business which was placed in the London Stock Exchange annual list of 1,000 companies to inspire Britain for a third time last summer.

The used car business became one of 69 companies to be featured three times nine years after Stott quit his sales job at a BMW dealership to start the business in his mum’s spare bedroom.

Eight years later, in 2016, the business had 100 employees and generated an annual turnover of £30 million.

One supplier of the Big Cars business told AM that there were signs, however, that the used car retail business was starting to encounter operational difficulties.

Commenting on developments at Big Cars, the supplier said: “There were signs that things weren’t quite right. The business opened a branch at Addlestone and then closed the doors four months ago, saying that they’d return when business was more buoyant.”

In 2016 Stott started a corporate events business, organising large-scale events at which he offered business coaching advice and interviewed A-list celebrities to share the key to their success.

Among Stott’s interviewees have been fashion designer Calvin Klein, boxers Floyd Mayweather and Anthony Joshua and movie stars Al Pacino and John Travolta.

Stott’s most recent business coaching event took place at Woolston Manor Golf & Country Club, Abridge Road, Chigwell, Essex, last Thursday (January 25), the day before Big Cars Ltd closed its doors.

Entitled “More Leads, More Sales, More Profit” the event promised to help attendees: learn proven strategies to increase sales; explore new avenues to help you generate more leads; discover how to increase profit margins with small changes; and set targets and challenges.