Administrators announce further City Link redundancies

ADMINISTRATORS acting for collapsed parcel delivery group City Link have announced a further 230 redundancies, together with the closure of a number of the firm’s depots.

The redundancies, which come on top of the 2,300 announced on New Year’s Eve, took effect yesterday and the process will run until January 15. Depot operations will also close across all the group’s UK sites over the coming eight days.
 
A total of 51 City Link depots will be permanently closed by January 15, although a small number of back office employees will be retained at some of these sites.

Depot operations in Shrewsbury will close tomorrow (Friday) after the last five employees are made redundant. Following this, depots in Stafford, Birmingham and West Bromwich will be shut by January 15.

The administrators said 141 people were being retained across the group’s operation with the bulk – 54 – at the City Link head office and transport hub in Coventry. These will continue to assist with the winding down operation, as well as returning parcels to customers.
 
As the 51 depot operations close over the coming week, the remaining circa 20,000 parcels in the company’s network will be sent to the Coventry hub from where they will either be collected by customers (senders) or returned to customers through an alternative parcel carrier.
 
Hunter Kelly, Joint Administrator for EY, said: “It is with regret that we announce further redundancies at City Link. Having returned a large volume of parcels to City Link’s customers and recipients over recent days, it is no longer viable to continue operating these depots and a phased plan to close them has begun.”
 
All employees affected by redundancies have been informed of the anticipated closure dates.

Employees affected by redundancy are being offered appropriate advice and support in making claims for statutory redundancy payments.
 
All employees made redundant have been paid for December 2014 in full, and December overtime will be paid on Friday (January 9) the administrators said. They will be paid for time worked in January on the company’s usual January pay date.
 
The administrators said precise closure dates for individual City Link depots were dependent on the progress made over the coming days in transporting parcels to the company’s Coventry hub.