A Wester Ross firm is facing collapse due to what they claim is a lack of financial support from the Government.
Mountain and Sea Guides in Applecross stopped work in March as kayaking, hill walking and mountaineering activities were banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
To safeguard the future of his adventure activities business, owner Mike Arkley applied for a grant through the government’s Business Resilience support scheme under the travel and tourism sector back in May.
Following an initial confirmation email, the Highland businessman was left without a further response for two months before being notified a month after the June 19 closing date that there was no trace of his application.
The furious mountain and kayak guide says failings by Scottish Enterprise, administrators of the fund, have left his business in a state of ruin, resulting in numerous job losses.
He said: “Every single business in the north west Highlands pretty much shut down during the lockdown and I guess the significant difference for all of us in remote areas is there are no alternatives.
“It has already led to job losses as we have axed a whole lot of contracts.
“A vast majority of our bookings have had to be refunded or cancelled and again that affects business cash flow and the subsequent employments and the structures to work for those groups.”
Scottish Enterprise say they are working with him to review the situation.
The £100 million Business Resilience support scheme was launched back in April to supply financial aid to small and medium sized businesses.
Three separate funds were established through the scheme including a £20 million fund for small and micro enterprises in the creative, tourism and hospitality sectors.
Mr Arkley is now urging Scottish ministers to put pressure on the Government to reopen the scheme to prevent fellow businesses from “falling through the net.”
He added: “All the communities on the west coast and on the islands around here are living and working in very economically fragile situations.
“The government in Edinburgh needs to apply pressure to reopen the grant process because businesses are falling through the net and it’s not right that some businesses are being given a grant and some won’t get a grant and will probably close.”
Scottish Enterprise say they are working with Mr Arkley to resolve the issue.
A Scottish Enterprise spokesman said: “We appreciate Mr Arkley’s frustration and have been working with him to try and track down his application.
“Due to the unprecedented situation, it is unfortunate that Mr Arkley experienced delays in our response time and we again apologise for this.
“Once we have received one of the two registration emails or the reference number that Mr Arkley would have received as part of the initial application process, we will be happy to investigate this matter further. If his initial application can be found, we will appraise this in full.”
A Scottish Government spokesman added: “We are sorry to hear about the situation with Mr Arkley’s application and have been advised that Scottish Enterprise are working with him to review the case.”
