Business

Bad debts cost UK printers more than £400,000 in July despite a range of recovery services being available, according to credit-checking agency ICSM.

The company managed to recover £1.4m last month, but the debt written off increased by £60,000 after June – from £350,000 to £410,000.

According to Ian Carrotte, managing director at ICSM, printers are adopting the "ostrich position" by giving credit despite the risks involved.

He said: "Debts are still coming to us far too late and unchecked, that is why the write-off figures – debts that are totally unrecoverable - are so high.

"Nearly all of these write-offs would have been recoverable had they come to us in time. In almost every case the printer had put off taking decisive action until it was too late."