Shropshire Star

Balloon entrepreneur hopes to fly high again after losing £1.8m court fight and entering liquidation

Balloon entrepreneur and adventurer Per Lindstrand hopes his company will be flying high again soon after he lost a court case in Australia.

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File picture of Per Lindstrand getting ready for the town's balloon festival

Mr Lindstrand, who defended Lindstrand Technologies in Oswestry against a creditor's claim in Australia, was shocked to be on the losing side after coming up against the "best barristers money can buy".

He was given just 10 days to come up with £1.8 million - including paying a legal bill of £500,000 - and says he had no choice but to put the company into liquidation.

"There was no opportunity to appeal," said Mr Lindstrand. "I had no choice but to go into liquidation and the receiver had to make 18 to 20 people redundant.

"The legal system is completely crap. I thought we had won."

But Mr Lindstrand, who famously attempted an around-the-world balloon flight with Richard Branson in 1998, says the case involves property, not the technology and intellectual property for the running of the business.