CREDITORS of a Sandbanks cafe which was wrecked by fire nearly five years ago are still waiting to hear whether they will get a payout.

An administrator has yet to find out why an insurance claim for the fire at Cafe Shore was rejected.

He is also trying to find out whether he can recover £164,000 which he says was borrowed from the business by its directors.

Fire wrecked the cafe in August 2014 and operator Lucy Enterprises went into administration, owing an estimated £461,000 including debts to several local suppliers.

Liquidator Simon Renshaw, of AABRS, later discovered that an insurance claim for the fire had been rejected. He said a review of the books had revealed that directors’ loan accounts were overdrawn to the tune of £101,604 for director Benjamin Brafman and £63,159 for his mother, Julia Brafman.

Mr Barfman was disqualified in January 2017 from acting as a company director for four-and-a-half years. Mr Renshaw wrote: “Mr Brafman was disqualified for his conduct while acting for the company.”

Mr Renshaw said he had instructed solicitors from Coffin Mew LLP to identify details of the insurance claim and any rights of legal action.

The same firm has been instructed to help recover the money owed to the directors’ loan accounts, he said.

“Based on current figures, the dividend prospects for creditors will depend on the realisations achieved, if any, in respect of the potential overdrawn director’s loan account balances and the possible rights of action arising out of the insurance claim,” he said.

Mr Renshaw has received claims totalling £351,520 from creditors. He has yet to receive claims from 19 more whose debts were estimated at £92,056.

He said there would be some money for creditors but could not say whether only secured creditors would get a payout.

On both the insurance claim and directors’ loans, he said he could not comment in detail but hoped to provide an update in his next progress report – which could be another year away.

A previous company which ran Cafe Shore, called Care Shore Limited, also had Julia Brafman as a director. It was liquidated in March 2013 with debts of £404,000.

Its assets were sold to Lucy Enterprises for £25,000, of which only £6,167 was received, according to a liquidator’s report.

The premises is now home to Rick Stein at Sandbanks, which has no connection to the earlier businesses.