The coronavirus crisis has left normally vibrant areas such as Covent Garden in London deserted

“I’m looking out over the park in Dulwich. It’s lovely. Yesterday I took the dog for a walk.”

James Dawes, finance director of the FTSE 250 company 3i Infrastructure, is typical of many business leaders struck by the surreal contrast between the quietness of working from home in the suburbs and grappling with the enormity of the shock blasting its way through the global economy.

In his case, that means trying to keep things afloat at TCR International, which leases machines to airport ground handlers. 3IN owns 50 per cent of it, a stake worth £200 million a few weeks ago. Its value today is anyone’s guess. Demand for baggage tractors, refuelling lorries and moveable aircraft staircases is pretty much near zero when the world’s