A multimillionaire motor trade tycoon is suing his own £200million business after being sacked over allegations he made a series of offensive comments towards staff.

Peter Waddell went from being a homeless teenager on the streets of Glasgow to amassing an estimated £500m fortune as the boss of Big Motoring World – Britain’s second biggest second-hand car business.

But in 2022, the 59-year-old sold a third share of the business to private equity firm Freshstream for £72m, vowing to spend less time working and more with his family.

Just two years later, he was ousted from his role after an internal investigation found that he made a series of comments towards staff, some of which amounted to harassment, bullying and race discrimination.

The tycoon, personally and through one of his other companies Peter Waddell Holdco Ltd, is now suing Freshstream at the High Court, seeking to get himself reinstated as boss and wrest back control of the business empire.

He believes he is the victim of a ‘meticulous plan’ by those connected with the private investment fund to sideline him and ‘strip value’ from the formerly thriving business, which he says is now nosediving in his absence.

Mr Waddell also claims his disabilities, including dyslexia, deafness and autistic spectrum disorder, were ignored during the internal disciplinary process which ended in his removal, rendering it void.

But Freshstream is defending the case claiming that it moved legitimately to remove Mr Waddell from the business after allegations about his conduct were found proved.

Peter Waddell, who is suing his own £200million business after being sacked over allegations he made a series of offensive comments towards colleagues

Mr Waddell in front of his former home in Bromley, London. The millionaire grew up in a Scottish care home and is dyslexic and partially deaf 

Mr Waddell has an astonishing rags to riches story, being taken into care at a children’s home in Fairlie, North Ayrshire, aged four and living rough on the streets of Glasgow as a teenager before moving to London and becoming a taxi driver.

From a base in Teynham, Kent, he went on to build Big Motoring World, Britain’s second biggest second-hand car empire. It sells 60,000 motors a year and is now worth around £500million after branching out into property and haulage.

His Grade-I listed 56-room mansion Holwood House, near Bromley, Kent, was put on the market at £23.5m last year. The house is steeped in history and boasts a swimming pool complex, two gyms, a cinema, music room and tennis court and is set in 50 acres of parkland.

Mr Waddell has also reportedly built an identical pile on Spain’s billionaire’s row in Puerto Banus, where neighbours include Novak Djokovic and Simon Cowell.

But the tycoon’s life was thrown into turmoil when he was removed as the boss of his business in April 2024, after an internal investigation found he had made sexist, racist and abusive comments towards colleagues – allegations that he contests.

The businessman now claims private equity firm, Freshstream, which owns a third of Big Motoring World Group, drove the ‘unfair’ investigation and took advantage of his disabilities to kick him out of his company.

Alan Gourgey KC, for Mr Waddell, told the court in his written submissions that Freshstream had a contractual right to eventually buy out the rest of the company as part of its investment. 

It also had a right to ‘step-in’ and remove Mr Waddell from the helm of the business under certain circumstances, the court heard. 

But Mr Gourgey told judge, Mr Justice Marcus Smith, at the High Court that the removal was unjustified and the procedure used to remove him was unfair.

‘These proceedings concern a group of companies in which the majority shareholder is the petitioner, a company owned by Mr Peter Waddell, and the minority shareholder is a vehicle of a private equity group called Freshstream, the investor,’ he said.

‘The proceedings arise out of the actions of the investor in March and April 2024 ousting Mr Waddell from his position as director and CEO of the Big Group, and taking control of the Big Group themselves.

‘The business was developed and built up by Mr Waddell over a period of over 30 years starting from around 1990.

‘Mr Waddell explains in his witness statement his very difficult childhood in early years including the abuse he suffered and his transfer to a care home.

‘This was followed by a period of poverty, homelessness and even imprisonment. He lacked any formal education. From these extraordinary difficult beginnings, he slowly built up one of the most successful car supermarket business.

‘By April 2022, the business employed around 600 employees with an annual turnover in excess of £370.96 million and generating profits of £4.66 million.’

Mr Waddell went from being a homeless teenager on the streets of Glasgow to amassing an estimated £500m fortune as the boss of Big Motoring World

Mr Gourgey claimed the investor ‘wanted to gain control of the business’ and put in place a ‘meticulous plan’ to oust Mr Waddell as chief executive on March 7, 2024. 

Detailing some of the allegations, the barrister said that one was that ‘Mr Waddell referred to people of Asian ethnicity as “Hyundais”.’

Responding to the allegation, Mr Gourgey told the court: ‘Mr Waddell recalls once telling a story about his friend Mr Malhotra and explaining that he struggled to pronounce “Hindu” as a result of his dyslexia, and instead thought Mr Malhotra said “Hyundai” when talking about his culture and his religion.

‘Mr Malhotra’s evidence is that he tried to teach Mr Waddell how to pronounce the word “Hindu” multiple times but he kept mispronouncing it. He did not think there was anything derogatory about it and has made fun of Mr Waddell for this a few times.’

Another allegation relates to Mr Waddell being accused of having said to a female cleaner, ‘in or around September/October 2023 at the Group’s Ambley Green premises…. “I bet you’d like to suck my d*** as well but I’m a married man”.’

Addressing this, the barrister said: ‘Mr Waddell’s evidence is that he had a joking relationship with [the cleaner] and would trade banter with her. She would say to him “you’ve got a fat belly”. 

‘She said to him “If it gets towed, I’ll just marry you because you get your girlfriends nice cars”. He thinks he said something like “Well I’m a married man, but I’ll bet you’d like to have sex with me as well”.

‘He does not remember saying “I bet you’d like to suck my d***” but cannot be sure. If he did, he regrets saying.’

Peter Waddell with his wife Gabby and some of their cars outside Holwood House

‘[The cleaner’s] evidence is that the comment that she alleges was made was clearly meant as a joke, that is how she took it and she did not take any offence, or feel threatened by it.’

Mr Gourgey argued that in light of his disabilities, the procedure used to remove Mr Waddell was invalid and unfair, describing it as ‘a Kafkaesque process’.

He also complained that Mr Waddell’s request for an appeal against dismissal to be handled by an independent investigator was refused.

The barrister told the court that Mr Waddell is seeking reinstatement and the removal of the directors appointed to replace him at the helm of the business.

He also wants £375,000 for wrongful dismissal and an order that ‘the investor sell their shares [to him]…at a fair value with a discount to be applied.’

James Laddie KC, for Bluebell Cars Holding Limited, Bluebell Cars Topco Limited and the other companies in written submissions denied Mr Waddell’s suggestion that there had been a ‘conspiracy’ to oust him. 

‘Mr Waddell was the subject of an independent investigation… conducted by independent leading counsel, Mr Nicholas Siddall KC,’ Mr Laddie told the court. 

‘Mr Waddell declined to engage in either of the investigation or disciplinary processes. Mr Siddall concluded – rightly – that 22 allegations made against Mr Waddell occurred as a matter of fact, including that Mr Waddell had engaged in serious misconduct amounting to harassment, bullying and race discrimination. 

‘Mr Waddell was then lawfully dismissed by BidCo, as his employer, for largely the same reasons.

‘Mr Waddell’s attempts in these proceedings to try to explain away the myriad of allegations and findings of serious misconduct made against him have no merit.  

‘His denials of his conduct fly in the face of evidence from numerous witnesses. Mr Waddell’s suggestions, in respect of a number of the allegations, that his comments were just jokes do him no credit.

The barrister continued: ‘Whatever his own views as to the propriety of his comments, they were, on any objective view, manifestly inappropriate in the workplace context and should never have been made.

‘It is not acceptable for any CEO, let alone one who is FCA-regulated, to say to a cleaner “I bet you’d like to suck my d***”.’

‘None of Mr Waddell’s misconduct can be properly explained by his medical conditions, as the expert evidence will show.’  

‘He was well able to differentiate between acceptable and inappropriate behaviour and is now seeking in these proceedings to hide behind his medical conditions as a fig leaf for his repeated and egregious misconduct.’

He concluded: ‘Once it is seen that Mr Waddell has no good answer to the serious misconduct alleged against him.. it follows that Mr Waddell’s claims against the BIG Defendants must fail.

‘There is no basis for any challenge to the conclusions of the independent investigation or the disciplinary process and those conclusions should be upheld in full.

‘There was no ‘unfairness’ in respect of the Independent Investigation. The justifiable removal of a director or employee on the grounds of serious misconduct cannot amount to unfair prejudice.’

The hearing continues.