Parts Alliance re-employs 500 Unipart staff with promise of more to come
AUTOMOTIVE components supplier, The Parts Alliance, has taken on around 500 former employees of Birmingham-based Unipart Automotive following the latter’s collapse. The business said the numbers were also expected to rise in the coming weeks.
More than 1,800 people were put out of work last month when Unipart Automotive, which had been one of the UK’s largest suppliers of second hand car parts, workshop consumables and garage equipment, went into administration. The business had comprised a network of 180 branches and distribution hubs trading under the Unipart Automotive, Partco Autoparts, and Express Factors brands.
Some 320 jobs were saved when, in a joint rescue deal, The Parts Alliance and The Parts Alliance associate member Andrew Page agreed to take over 33 Unipart Automotive branches.
Peter Sephton, chief executive of The Parts Alliance, said: “It has been sad to see the decline and demise of Unipart Automotive. We have worked hard to interview and re-employ close to 500 talented individuals whose great experience and skills will benefit The Parts Alliance and our customers.
“Those re-employed include people at all levels, from senior members of the National Accounts team and Regional Directors to parts advisors, branch managers, business and operations specialists.
“We take great care to allow prospective colleagues to understand us and our values and get to know them. All too often I see employers making knee-jerk reactions and false promises, offering jobs to people they have never seen or who have never seen and evaluated them. These are people’s lives we are dealing with and it impacts their communities and families, so we owe it to all our colleagues to be open and transparent.”
Sephton said The Parts Alliance had become the natural employer of choice in the sector as people had recognised the group’s integrity and commitment to its workforce.
“We take great care to respect the individual and diversity in all respects, providing an environment in which colleagues can express their opinions and help us to build a great future together, while we invest in their development,” he added.
HgCapital-backed The Parts Alliance has the largest distribution network in the automotive aftermarket with 278 branches across the UK and Ireland.
