Protectoprint, the sister company of Ecoat Print, formerly Best Cover's Leeds facility, ceased trading on Friday.

Managing director Darren Crake told PrintWeek on Friday that he had appointed BWC Business Solutions.

Crake said that there were a number of reasons for the business's failure, including a £30,000 bad debt from a large printer that recently went into administration.

He added: "Customers are also taking the piss, trying to claim for any and everything they can. This, along with reduced sales and increases in raw materials - up to 25% in some cases - which we struggle to pass on, has all added to the situation.

"I have become somewhat disillusioned with the whole industry. Print management companies and some of the bigger players use bully-boy tactics.

"I have lost count of the amount of times my machines have stood idle because a job has not turned up from a customer when it was scheduled to, yet if we are late to them by even a couple of hours we are told we have to pay thousands of pounds for making their binder stand or for lifting out."

Crake also thanked the staff for their hard work in the two years since he acquired the business. One of the employees and her family are now looking to take on some of the machines, with the intention of setting up again separately from Crake.