Carter & Carter, the motor manufacturing training company whose accounts are under question, has gone into administration and placed the future of its 2,000 employees in doubt.

The move comes after three profit warnings that followed the death of Phillip Carter, 44, the company's founder and chief executive, in a helicopter crash in May last year that also claimed the life of his 17-year-old son, Andrew.

Barely a year ago Carter & Carter was prospering as a stock market darling, valued at £530 million, with a business model based on working with the Government to put the long-term unemployed back into work.

Yesterday, the company, chaired by Rodney Westhead, was forced to admit that months of restructuring talks with its lenders had come to nothing, leaving the board with no option but to hand day-to-day control of the business to administrators.

The company said: “The lenders have informed the company that this consensual restructuring is no longer considered a viable option by them.”

Bankers at Rothschild are understood to have been working on trying to broker a restructuring since the start of this year. However, the company said yesterday in a statement to the stock exchange that “no viable option is available to meet its cash needs in the short term”.

The board began talks with its bankers, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HBOS, in October after its shares were suspended. The company admitted that it was re-examining the “accuracy” of its accounts.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Carter & Carter's auditor, was subsequently called in to check on its accounting methods. The publication of the company's results for the 12 months to July 31 were delayed and they are yet to be published.

The company acts as the training arm of car manufacturers including Volkswagen and Ford and effectively provides apprenticeships for would-be mechanics. It is paid directly by the Learning and Skills Council, a government agency and relies on support from the Department of Work and Pensions.

In February, Carter & Carter said it had hired Herbert Smith and DLA Piper, the City law firms, to “undertake investigations into the group's operations”. That followed the admission in October that it was “assessing the recoverability of certain assets at July 31, together with the accuracy of certain revenue streams in the business”.

John Green, Carter & Carter's finance director, resigned from the board in October. His departure came after the resignation of Peter Marples, the company's business development director, in June - a month after Mr Carter died.

Carter & Carter's accounts were overseen by David Galloway, chairman of Accident Exchange and a chartered accountant. He joined Carter & Carter's board as the senior non- executive director in February 2005.

The company will file an intention to appoint an administrator with the courts shortly. The administrator, selected by the company's bank lenders, will take over the day-to-day running of the business from the board.

The move means that the company's 2,000 jobs are now at risk.

Carter & Carter's largest shareholders include the British Steel pension fund, a 3 per cent shareholder, and Fidelity, which owns 10 per cent. Mr Carter's estate holds a 21 per cent stake in the company.

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