ELAINE McPHERSON, the owner of retail chain Ethel Austin, kept her head firmly beneath the parapet, even when things were going well.

So it’s little surprise that, when the going gets tough, she avoids journalists’ questions by hiding behind a City PR firm, as she did yesterday when I tried to contact her.

Her shyness contrasts with that of others who have found themselves in trouble who have valued the opportunity to tell their side of the story.

It’s a shame because there are many stakeholders out there, including thousands of Ethel employees, who would love to hear her account of the reasons behind last week’s events.

It is the second time in two years that the discount retailer has been placed into administration.

Its present poor fortunes contrast sharply with those heady days a few years earlier when Phil Hopkinson led a management buy-out with tens of millions of pounds of support from venture capitalists and bankers. But those were the days when there was so much money available that it must have looked as if it was growing on trees and even relatively unpromising businesses could raise cash.

Crucially, Ms McPherson’s timing could hardly have been worse. She acquired Ethels when the credit crunch was in full swing and at a time when Britain was about to sink into recession.

No wonder she has found it hard to secure sufficient banking facilities to keep the business going.

As a result, when the big freeze struck last month, causing shoppers to stay away from the January sales for the best part of a week, it proved to be the straw that broke the business.