Self-employed businessman Gareth Hardinge has told how he has been forced to close his ’man and a van’ business because he says he has received no help from the government.

Mr Hardinge, 40, who lives in Douglas, said it was with ’great sadness and a heavy heart’ that he had decided to pull the plug on Fast Forward Man and Van Services which offered an all-island service with many regular customers.

He said he felt desperation after trying for more than 30 days to get help after making inquiries through the Manx Earnings Replacement Allowance (MERA) and the £3,000 Coronavirus Business Support Scheme.

He said he sent countless emails, phone calls and voice messages without success and claimed the government had done nothing to help.

Mr Hardinge said: ’I have used my savings up to survive over the past 35 days and I will not recover financially from this situation I’m in now.

’So I’ve been left with no option but to close.’

But there was a last minute glimmer of hope on Wednesday after Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan stepped in with a personal email to Mr Hardinge saying he was looking into his case.

At Tuesday’s media briefing Mr Cannan said he accepted there had been a few delays into the process of handling claims.

But he said millions of pounds in help was already being paid out to businesses.

More than 2,144 businesses have received help through the business support scheme.