Over the past few months, major brands such as Woolworths, MFI, Zavvi, Land of Leather, Lehman Brothers, Whittard and Adams have all gone into administration.

The impact of these collapses has been felt in the print industry, with companies including Norscreen and DSR Print Management going out of business citing the collapse of a major client.

Ian Carrotte, managing director of ICSM, said that all companies, whether they be Coca Cola or the local butchers, should be thoroughly checked before doing business with them.

He said: The bigger they are, the harder you fall. Just because your client is a household name, it does not mean its business is safe. Only when you carry out a credit check can you be sure the firm has funds to pay you.

Credit terms are tighter and even the industry’s major insurance providers are pulling cover to try and minimise potential falls. So why are some printers still not credit checking? It has never been cheaper to do – especially when you compare the cost to what you stand to save in bad debts.

Printers have recently been reported as crying out for an industry body to do something to protect them from phoenix companies, but we already have a blacklist. Compiled over the past 20 years, it warns customers of serial credit abusers.

According to ICSM, which launched credit protection package Safety Net last year, 30% of bad debt in the UK printing industry could have been avoided had the correct credit checks taken place.