Jobs at threat as Whistl delivers grim news
WHISTL, the privately-owned postal delivery firm, has suspended its door-to-door service, and is looking to cut 2,000 of its 4,500 staff it emerged today.
The Buckinghamshire-based company, formerly known as TNT Post, has been rolling out a ‘last -mile’ service called E2E in London, Liverpool and Manchester. A competitor to Royal Mail, the company had delivered one in every four letters in the Liverpool and Manchester area and has a depot in Formby, Merseyside.
It is now consulting on cutting its staff after an investment deal with private equity firm LDC collapsed.
In a statement, Whistl said: “Following the announcement from LDC that it would not proceed with the proposed investment to fund further rollout of E2E, we have now commenced an extensive review of the viability and potential for the rollout of an E2E postal delivery service in the UK.
“To stem the losses from the operations we have taken the difficult decision to suspend the current E2E service during the review process and all mail will now be delivered through our long-standing downstream access service until we have concluded the review.
“As part of this extensive review, we will begin consultations with the relevant employees who are affected by the suspension of the E2E service, and with their union representatives, with a view to identifying and exploring viable proposals to secure the continuation of this service.”
Last month LDC said it had decided against investing in Whistl because of “ongoing changes in UK postal market dynamics and the complexity of the regulatory landscape”.
