7:39 am, March 9, 2026
Big Motoring World boss Laurence Vaughan received a ‘secret’ six figure payment direct from investors before going on to replace Peter Waddell as CEO, a court has heard.
Waddell is currently appearing at the High Court, where he is claiming unfair dismissal, harassment and disability discrimination by Bluebell Cars – the ultimate holding company of Big Motoring World.
At the start of the hearing, the motor trade tycoon insisted that he had been victim of a ‘coup’ by Freshstream to oust him from the company he founded.
Car Dealer was in court on Friday (Mar 6), where his legal representatives looked to back up the 59-year-old’s claims. The day saw Freshstream partner Reza Fardad cross-examined by Waddell’s lawyer, Alan Gourgey, KC.
Gourgey revealed that in December 2023, Vaughan was paid £145,000 by Freshstream in what was described as a ‘consultancy fee’. At the time, Vaughan was chairman of Big Motoring World, working 10 days a month.
In his evidence, Fardad said that Vaughan was working ‘far more days’ than his contractual obligations but admitted that Freshstream kept the payment ‘secret’ from Waddell and the wider board at Big Motoring World.
Justice Marcus Smith put it to Fardad that the payment created a ‘conflict within Mr Vaughan’ who was being ‘paid by two masters’ – something the witness disagreed with.
Gourgey added that the payment created a ‘position of conflict’ between Vaughan’s ‘obligations to Big [Motoring World] and his loyalty to Freshstream’.
Waddell was eventually ousted from his position as CEO in 2024, amid a string of allegations around his conduct. He was replaced in the hot seat by Vaughan, who was preferred by Freshstream to industry legend Daksh Gupta.
Seeking to explain the significant payment in court, Fardad said: ‘His chairman contract was 10 days per month, and he was actually doing far more days, partly because of the Available transaction, which required him to get much more involved and spend a lot of time on that acquisition.
‘In the normal course, we would have asked Bapchild Motoring World to pay him in addition to his chairman salary and contract, pay him on top of that for the incremental amount of work he was doing over and above that contract.
‘But that option was not available to us because of the relationship with Pete. Pete at this point in time was trying to cut Laurence down in the number of hours, and if we’d gone to Pete and suggested that we need to pay Laurence an amount like this or any amount, we were sure the answer would be no.
‘Then we’d have retention issues with Laurence.’
Despite the references to a ‘coup’ there is no mention of any ‘conspiracy’ in Waddell’s official claim to the court.
The trial so far…
- Peter Waddell says he was victim of Big Motoring World ‘coup’ as High Court trial gets underway
- Waddell ran ‘fiefdom’ and complained about ‘too many muslims’, court hears
- Peter Waddell accused of using disabilities as a ‘fig leaf’ as High Court trial continues
- ‘I wish I’d never sold to them’: Waddell tells court of regret in selling Big Motoring World
- Peter Waddell nicknamed employee ‘Ching the P***’ because ‘his father ran a corner shop’, court hears
- Daksh Gupta held talks over becoming Big Motoring World CEO after Marshall departure
- Weekly Briefing: High Court hears there was ANOTHER bidder for Big Motoring World
‘Waddell had Rolls-Royce as company car’
The court heard previously heard how Freshstream had a £72m call option which would have seen it become the majority shareholder of Big Motoring World.
Waddell is said to have been looking for a ‘phased retirement’ and was disappointed when the option was not taken up.
In his evidence on Friday, Fardad said that the car dealer had wanted to ‘annoy’ Freshstream in order to pressure them into taking the option.
In one message Waddell made a swathe of suggestions to cut costs – including reducing Vaughan to just one day a month.
However, Fardad says the suggestions were not motivated by a desire to reduce costs, evidenced by the fact that Waddell was still using a Rolls-Royce as a company car at the time.
‘Pete was driving a Rolls-Royce that was a company car, which cost not a small amount,’ he said. ‘The kind of numbers he’s talking about, it isn’t huge amounts.
‘Even if we’d say, fine, Laurence goes down to one day a month – we wouldn’t have, but if we had – that might have saved a couple of hundred thousand.
‘Even if we’d said, David Thorley, you’re down to one day a week instead of, I think, three or four days. That might have saved £50,000 a year.
‘In a context of a business with close to £1bn of revenue and EBITDA in the tens of millions, it wasn’t going to make a big difference.
‘These are not the things you do to increase EBITDA, these are the things you do to annoy Freshstream and try to force them to exercise the call option.’
Vaughan himself is expected to give evidence later this week. The trial continues.
