VSL - Vanguard Services Ltd faces a winding-up petition

The most recent insolvency notice for VSL - Vanguard Services Ltd is a Petitions to wind up (Companies), published 16 October 2026 in The London Gazette. The petition was presented by HM Revenue & Customs. The case is before the High Court of Justice (case CR-2026-007041 of 2026). The petition is listed to be heard on 28 October 2026 at 1030 hours. Its last accounts filed at Companies House, to 30 April 2025, showed total assets of £974k and net assets of -£715k. On those figures the company was already balance-sheet insolvent — its liabilities exceeded its assets — at that date, 17 months before its first insolvency notice. A winding-up petition asks the court to close a company and place it into compulsory liquidation, most often because a debt has gone unpaid. If the court makes a winding-up order, control passes to the Official Receiver or an appointed liquidator, the company's bank accounts are frozen and its assets are sold to repay creditors.

HMRC is the petitioning creditor, so the debt behind the petition is unpaid tax — most often VAT, PAYE or corporation tax — rather than a trade debt. HMRC petitions usually follow a long run of missed payments and ignored demands.

What happens next

At the hearing the court decides whether to make a winding-up order. Until it does, the petition can still be dismissed or withdrawn — if the debt is paid, if it is genuinely disputed on substantial grounds, if the company has a cross-claim larger than the debt, or if the court is persuaded to adjourn while a rescue or refinancing is put in place. If an order is made, the company stops trading, its bank accounts are frozen, control passes to the Official Receiver and a liquidator is appointed to sell the assets and pay creditors in the order fixed by law.

Quote case number CR-2026-007041 of 2026 and the High Court of Justice in any correspondence about the case, together with company number 11406605.