ONE of the founders of troubled Hampshire mortgage firm TML has blasted a culture of lavish perks for putting 80 people on the dole before Christmas and threatening the jobs of a further 170.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, the Whiteley-based broker is the latest victim of the so-called credit crunch and has collapsed into administration.

Already 80 workers have been laid off and a further 170 are waiting to hear if they will have a job in the new year.

It's a sad decline for a company that was sold for £25m in 2002, making multi-millionaires of its founders Andrew Strode Gibbons and Simon Kingsnorth.

Free massages Today, Mr Strode Gibbons, pictured, criticised bosses for introducing free massages for staff and moving to "flashy" offices. The well-known entrepreneur, who now owns 52 per cent of Hampshire-based Go Business Mortgages, said the perks pushed-up running costs and left the firm unable to cope with the fallout from the credit crunch.

He said: "If TML didn't have huge overheads they could have survived this. They were overstaffed and overpaid and in a building fit for Goldman Sachs. It's a very sad story.

"TML moved into expensive offices, with gyms and free massages and that sort of thing and they never recovered from it.

"I am not surprised to see them go. These are very challenging times. Everyone I speak to says everyday brings more bad news."

Administrators rejected his analysis, saying the company was "very well managed" and a victim of the credit crunch.

They added they aimed to find a buyer by the end of next week.

Customers with mortgages are unaffected by administration, because TML (The Mortgage Lender) does not actually lend money but, instead, acts as a middleman between borrowers and lenders.

In the same way as building society Northern Rock fell victim to the financial crisis which has wiped billions from balance sheets of banks across the globe, TML is a victim of the rising cost of credit.

It specialised in the financial sector worst hit by the credit crunch - sub-prime or higher risk mortgages. TML advertising said it "could help even if you have been turned down for credit in the past", but lenders prepared to offer money dried up.

Administrator Andrew Duncan said: "It was very well managed. There doesn't seem to be anything in the way of extravagant perks. That's not my experience. The property they are in is quite large but they assumed they were going to grow, but they didn't.

"They've got more clients than they can shake a stick at but the companies they were using to place their products pulled them in September.

"We have got half a dozen people who we think are likely candidates to buy the business. We'd like it to be before Christ-mas but whether it can move that quickly I don't know. Our target is by the end of next week."