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A group of shareholders in Cattles has vowed to fight for the doorstep lender to be wound up, in an attempt to improve the chances of pursuing a legal case against some of its former employees.

Barry Dearing, a discount Mbt shoes Lancashire-based solicitor, has started a shareholder action group to press for Cattles to agree to close down promptly so that potential legal action could be considered under the Insolvency Act. The group is racing against the clock as there is a limited period to prosecute certain offences.

Mr Dearing said that so far he had attracted 200 individuals with just under 22 million shares. Shareholders voted at an extraordinary general meeting this month Mbt to ask Cattles’ creditors for £500,000 to fund a petition to wind down the company.

Cattles, which lent money to customers with impaired credit histories, issued a Stock Exchange announcement this week rejecting the move. Margaret Young, the executive chairwoman, said: “We appreciate the disappointment felt by shareholders but there can be no case for winding up the company when ghd straighteners this would be highly detrimental to the interests of all of our stakeholders.”

Shares in Cattles were suspended in April. The company has admitted to an “incorrect application” of bad-debt accounting procedures that resulted in an £850 million black hole. Seven directors were dismissed and the chief executive and chairman stepped down in the wake of what the lender claimed was ghd hair straighteners “a breakdown in internal controls”. Cattles is trying to keep going so that it can recoup as much of the £1.9 billion in outstanding customer loans as possible in order to repay some of its debts to creditors, which stand at £2.7 billion.

The company is understood to believe that customers are less likely to pay off their loans if it is being wound up. Cattles’ banks, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, support its strategy.

Shareholders are angry that the company is not being wound up because they believe this makes Mbt.com it more difficult to pursue potential legal action.

Mr Dearing said: “The first critical date to pass will be December 31, 2009, after which criminal offences which might have been committed under section 209 of the Insolvency Act 1986 will escape prosecution.”