Pinnacle storage bills add more heartache for labels.

INDEPENDENT RECORD LABELS CAUGHT UP IN THE FALLOUT from Pinnacle's collapse face fresh financial heartache after the landlord of an overflow warehouse used by the distributor billed them for shelf space.

Pinnacle had an estimated 1m albums stored in the warehouse in Erith, Kent, at the time of its fall into administration last December, as well as millions of titles in its own warehouses.

The news meant that stock from hundreds of independent labels was left in Pinnacle warehouses over the busy Christmas period, while labels negotiated with administrator BDO Stoy Hayward.

The situation had appeared to be nearing resolution - BDO set a deadline of last Wednesday (January 28) for labels to advise it on how they wished their stock to be deal with.

However, landlord of the Erith warehouse Europa has thrown a new spanner in the works by billing labels for warehouse space since December 1, at the rate of #200 for every 10,000 units.

Europa says it was forced to take this step after BDO ignored calls for it to pay for the additional storage. "We have got stuck," says Europa credit manager George Tulip. "Someone has got to pay for the storage."

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