ANGRY bosses are threatening to expel a senior chamber of commerce member for claiming the business group is in dire financial straits.

Ray Haines, former head of policy at Kent Maritime Chamber - an amalgamation of the former Dover, Thanet, Swale and Canterbury chambers - outraged directors when he publicly voiced serious concerns about the chamber's future.

Mr Haines is a member of the Dover branch that wants to break away from Kent Maritime and re-form Dover Chamber of Commerce, an organisation that has been dormant since the new chamber was set up nearly two years ago. Business leaders on Dover's committee want the branch's 104 members to back their controversial plan at a special meeting on Tuesday.

Kent Maritime chamber, hit by the axing of a £54,000 subsidy from Swale council, recently laid off Mr Haines and three other members of staff in a cost-cutting move. But Anne Peeks, chief executive of the 1,000-member Kent Maritime, fiercely denied there were major financial problems.

This week she admitted that Swale council's decision was a blow and that the chamber made a "large" loss last year. But she was confident that new sources of revenue would make up the shortfall. She has approached local councils and firms to help the situation.

She confirmed that Kent Maritime board had sent Mr Haines a letter threatening his expulsion within 21 days. Mrs Peeks accused him of disclosing confidential information and bringing the chamber into disrepute.

She said Mr Haines, a former chief executive of the old Dover Chamber when Mrs Peeks was its chairman, should have worked for the chamber, not damaged it.

"He was not justified making those allegations," she said. "Like any company, if you have a setback, you don't give up. Far from giving up, we are building new links, new partnerships and we will have to work a little bit harder.

"He has been very unfair, used information that was confidential and the board believe he no longer has a place in the chamber. It is always very hurtful to see someone that has given such a lot of support over the years could act in such an unfair way and abuse his position. He is absolutely wrong and has totally misunderstood the situation."

She hoped Dover would "see sense" and not declare independence. She warned it risked being sidelined at a time when only large chambers could offer the services that firms needed.

Mr Haines was unrepentant. He claimed the chamber was £30,000 in the red and had lost £90,000 in 18 months.

"We'd like to stick with it but we can't see there's anything to stick with," he said. "We are still prepared to reconsider our recommendation if and when they come up with figures and plans to get out of the mess but they haven't done so.

"There is nothing the Dover branch has said that is untrue. If the truth brings the chamber into disrepute, that's a sad reflection on the chamber.

Asked about his proposed expulsion, he said: "I'm not prepared to comment on that at the moment."

He said he had been one of the strongest supporters of Kent Maritime chamber. "I am terribly sad that it hasn't succeeded."

Kent Maritime was launched with a fanfare at London Manston Airport in 2000. But it got off to a bad start when former chief executive Gary Newborough was fired after just a few months in the job.

French-born Mrs Peeks appeared to be getting it back on track and helping to restore the reputation of the county's chamber movement battered by the financial collapse of the countywide chamber three years ago.

But Mr Haines' accusations and the proposed Dover defection have plunged the chamber movement into renewed crisis.