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Graham Mulholland, the managing director of Derby-based epm: technology has hit out at banks for being "lazy". He told an Insider round table event that the downturn was caused by "less than 500 people in London" and believes his bank is worried if he schedules a meeting.

Mulholland, whose company makes composite parts for the motorsport industry, told Insider: "I believe banks have different targets these days.

"It's not about how much they lend; it's about how many proposals they put out there. It we call up the bank for a meeting, I'd go as far as to say they worry about coming along.

"It took us five weeks to even get the financial terms back when we wanted funds recently."

Mulholland said that the economic recovery is being hampered by a lack of urgency from the banks to begin lending again.

He added: "We're being asked to be nimble by the government to try and speed up the recovery, but the very thing that could help us being nimble – the banks – are slowing us down."

Mulholland railed against the deals being offered on banking finance. He said: "I'll give you an example of how expensive bank finance is at the moment: we bought a transit van and had to pay £8,500 interest on it over three years. Is that a decent offer?"

By Mulholland's own admission, epm: technology nearly went bust during the recession and he lays the blame squarely at the door of his bank.

He said: "Morally they have not supported us at all. They've been lazy. It's taken less than 500 people in London to cause all this chaos. I think what they forget is that people who run their own companies will now have very long memories."

epm: technology employs 80 people at its Draycott facility. It specialises in making parts for Formula 1 teams as well as working with world touring cars and British touring car teams. The company works with vehicle manufactures including Aston Martin and Bentley.