A FORMER Burton and South Derbyshire estate agent has been declared bankrupt only weeks after the credit crunch forced him to close his business.

David Bramall, of Willington Road, Etwall, was granted the order, published in the public notices section of yesterday's Burton Mail, on August 14, by Burton County Court.

The judgement has come in the wake of the 49-year-old ex-businessman's decision to shut his branches in Station Street, Burton, and West Street, Swadlincote.

He was thought to have handed his property portfolio to Hannells and decided to focus on running his auction house business, Maynard's, with Anderson-Dixon.

Insolvency Service spokesman Ade Daramy said the former estate agent's 'fairly routine' bankruptcy - which refers to him personally rather than the business - had so far revealed 19 creditors.

He said: "If Mr Bramall has any assets that are realisable, the case will be passed to an insolvency practitioner who will try to administer them for the benefit of creditors."

A bankrupt could expect to be discharged in a year, Mr Daramy explained.

Asked to comment on his latest blow, Mr Bramall said: "It's a very trying time."

Now unemployed, he is the most high-profile victim of an economic downturn which has ravaged Britain's once buoyant housing market.

Buyers have dried up as banks have restricted mortgages in a desperate bid to increase their cash flow and prevent further losses as recession looms.

The storm struck in May when Anderson-Dixon sold out to Hannells, based in Burton's Market Place - a move followed soon after by Bridge Street firm Ayrton Lewis's decision to close and hand its property to the same buyer.

However, the storm turned into a hurricane in June when Derby-based Ashley Adams axed its High Street branches in Burton and Swadlincote, transferring its business to Burchell Edwards, in Station Street, Burton.

Nearby Everington and Ruddle then shut its office and gave its properties to Kingston Behague, in New Street, Burton, and Mr Bramall acted to cut his losses.

The move was a big blow for an ex-businessman who has never shied away from using his profile to good - and occasionally controversial - effect.

In June, 2005, he slammed yobs who smashed the glass door of his business, Bishop and Company, in Station Street, while attacking police for not preventing anti-social behaviour.

In June this year, Mr Bramall, who lost part of his leg in a motoring accident and now has a prosthetic limb below his left knee, said he would cycle down the highest mountain in Spain's Sierra Nevada mountain range to raise money for a meningitis charity.


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