100 jobs at risk as Lloyds pulls the plug on car sales business

LLOYDS Bank is to close its car sales operation in the West Midlands threatening the jobs of 100 employees.

Despite being highly profitable, the bank is pulling the plug on its Lex Autolease sites in Coventry and Oldbury on May 20.

The move follows a shift in emphasis by the bank on its car retail business.

The move is a particular blow to the site in Coventry, which only opened in June 2014 following a multi-million pound investment.

Staff at both sites were stunned by the surprise announcement and are now faced with redundancy.

TheBusinessDesk understands that the site at Churchbridge in Oldbury and the Coventry site in Foleshill Road, will be taken over by British Car Auctions (BCA), although the latter has yet to confirm its plans.

Lex Autolease was created in 2009 from the merger of HBOS-owned Lex Vehicle Leasing with Lloyds TSB Autolease. It is the UK’s largest vehicle leasing business with a fleet of about 270,000 vehicles.

The leasing aspect of the business is unaffected – in fact Lloyds said it was this side of the business it wanted to focus on.

A Lloyds spokesman said: “We are closing our retail sites in Coventry and Oldbury. The remarketing side of the business is not a core element and we want to grow the leasing side of the business.

“We will be outsourcing the remarketing business to our auction client, BCA and 29 employees will be TUPEd to the auction business.

“However, 100 people are at risk of losing their jobs.”

He added: “The (remarketing) business is very profitable and it was a very difficult decision to make to close the sites.”

He said the decision would have no impact on existing customers.

It may seem ironic now but Tim Porter, managing director of Lex Autolease, had this to say following the opening of the Coventry site in 2014.

He said: “The new remarketing site is a key part of our growth strategy and represents a significant investment for the business.  As an end-to-end vehicle provider, remarketing plays a crucial role, particularly given the large volume of vehicles that are returned to us each year once their leasing agreement ends.   
 
“The savings and efficiencies gained by moving to this new purpose-built remarketing facility will ultimately help us offer better value for customers at the front end of the leasing process.”

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