The owner of a Broughty Ferry restaurant that closed under controversial circumstances has been ordered to pay £2,000 to a contractor.
Michael McGregor, of MEM Electrical, succeeded in a legal action against Beach Hut owner Catherine Rae at Dundee Sheriff Court.
The former restaurant proprietor came under fire throughout her short-lived business venture, with several traders claiming they had not been paid.
Ms Rae did not answer her telephone or respond to a message when contacted by The Courier.
Catering suppliers and staff, butchers, fishmongers and tradesmen were all left chasing payments after the restaurant closed last month.
A rough estimate of the total owed is now more than £30,000.
Mr McGregor successfully sued Ms Rae for £2,394 plus interest after she failed to pay him for electrical work he had carried out.
She will also be responsible for expenses incurred by the legal action, Sheriff Tom Hughes ruled.
Despite the successful court action, Mr McGregor predicts he will not see any of the money owed.
“There’s no chance she doesn’t have any money,” he said. “She told everybody she was buying the place (but) it was just a lease. It’s just a bad, bad episode.”
Mr McGregor added: “I’ve been told there’s no point in chasing it any more. I’d just be throwing good money after bad.
“The thing is I’ve lost £2,400, the plumber has lost £2,700 and I think the kitchen company were in for thousands.
“I actually walked off the job before it was finished because I saw it coming.
“She said she had a grant of £15,000 to get and I said if she could prove the grant was coming and she signed an agreement with me I would come and finish the work.
“She agreed but then the next morning she said I wasn’t getting to see anything so I told her I wouldn’t be coming back to finish it.
“She contacted other companies but Dundee is a small place and I had two or three phone calls from other people asking why I had walked off the job.
“When I told them she had no money and I wasn’t getting paid they said that was good enough for them and refused the job.”
Mr McGregor added: “The owner of the building has now changed the locks.
“It’s a shame because it’s a really nice place and it would be good to see it being a success but obviously only if we got paid for the work we have done.”
John Ford, proprietor of Walton Catering Equipment Ltd, said he had lost about £10,000 worth of business after fitting out the restaurant kitchen.
He said: “We’re taking legal advice over our next move, we’re hoping to have discussions with the landlord of the property to see if we can come to some sort of arrangement.”
Other traders and suppliers are now considering taking the matter to the police.
Bob Fraser, a plumber left with an unpaid bill of thousands, previously said he has had no contact with Ms Rae.
He said: “We now suspect this was a premeditated act and when we cast the net around we can see that there are an even greater number of people than we first thought out of pocket.”