Hello; am about to submit Order to Obtain Information

[Sandy9]

Hello; I'm glad to have found this forum and hope someone will be able to point us in the right direction. My partner, and one other employee, worked long term for a sole trader who they became aware was also operating an "identical" Limited Company from the same premises ( and with no other employees). A couple of years ago the employer told them that their employment was transferring to the Limited Company; he continued to use the name of the "sole trader" company when answering the 'phone etc. , arguing that this was the name that customers were familiar with. A year later he announced the Limited Company was ceasing trading; he made them redundant and said he could not afford to pay any redundancy pay etc..They have been awarded redundancy pay by the Insolvency Service and at an Employment Tribunal have been awarded pay in lieu of notice etc, but none of the latter has been paid. The sole trader company continues to trade. he has applied for the Limited Company to be struck off but we have so far succeeded in applying for that to be postponed. We are about to apply for an Order To Obtain Information but have a couple of queries regarding potential additional questions. First - the employer claims to have "given away as it was worthless" machinery that we believe to have been of significant value, even as scrap. ( Also it is now located at premises that he is now sharing with another company ) Second - because the premises, staff, suppliers, machinery etc. used by the two companies ( sole trader, limited company ) were, we believe, indistinguishable we suspect that assets etc. have been juggled between the two companies. ( I know that he will be asked if there are any allied companies but of course he could just say"no" ). If anyone can suggest how we could phrase questions in order to obtain definitive answers to these issues I would be very grateful.