The Enquirer revealed the £421m-turnover firm’s problems yesterday as staff were called into a meeting and told to look for new jobs.

And analysis of the latest results filed at Companies House shows Readie owe an average of £38m to trade creditors in a financial year.

One subcontractor said: “This could finish us a business because we are owed a lot of money by Readie.

“We will suffer because of the mismanagement by a main contractor and so will countless others.

“It’s all that is wrong in the industry with the supply chain being run into the ground by bigger firms.”