City Link parcel delivery company goes into administration

[whole diary]

[Electric train]

Wh? Citylink aren't public transport, neither do they deliver post?

They're a courier company

Citylink are the last mortal remains of the railway parcels service, Citylink bought (or were given) Red Star hence the link with the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)

[ChrisB]

Eightf referred to both post & piblic transport re Citylink. Hence my clarification

[Electric train]

Eightf referred to both post & piblic transport re Citylink. Hence my clarification

Granted, and you point is correct

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

City Link: 2,000 staff to be made redundant on NYE - RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)

More than 2,000 staff from the collapsed UK^▸ (United Kingdom) parcel delivery service City Link are to be made redundant on New Year's Eve, the RMT union has said.

Staff learned on Christmas Day that the company had gone into administration, in a move described as "disgraceful" by the union for transport workers.

Talks between union officials and administrators EY were held on Saturday afternoon. EY warned of "substantial redundancies over the coming days".

Coventry-based City Link, which is owned by investment firm Better Capital, employs 2,727 people. It called in administrators on Christmas Eve after years of "substantial losses".

Following Saturday's talks, the RMT demanded an immediate meeting with Business Secretary Vince Cable and called on the government to launch a rescue plan to save the company as a going concern.

The union said it had been told by administrators that more than 2,000 staff will be made redundant on New Year's Eve. Remaining staff will be retained in the short term to wind down the company, union officials said.

Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, called the situation a "despicable and callous manipulation" of thousands of workers. He said: "It is crystal clear that there has been a truly horrific catalogue of mismanagement at City Link and that staff and their union have been starved of basic information."

The government has previously said it was unable to intervene in the administration process, although Mr Cable said he would meet the union in the New Year.

However, Mr Cash said: "Clearly that is too late and the business will have been smashed to pieces by then. If the government can nationalise the bankers then they can nationalise City Link, which is clearly in the public interest," he added.

The firm, which was founded in 1969, was acquired by restructuring specialist Better Capital in April 2013. It invested ^40m but EY said City Link had incurred substantial losses over several years and the money could not help it turn the firm around.

EY said it was currently assessing the company and the status of existing orders. "This process will have a bearing on the number of employees retained and those that unfortunately face redundancy in the next few days," it said in a statement. "It is anticipated that there will be substantial redundancies over the coming days, at which point the administrators will provide a further update." It said it anticipated that "a portion of employees" would be retained for up to three months.

Administrators were currently gathering expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring specific assets, divisions of the business or the entire firm, it added. But given the previous unsuccessful sale process administrators were "cautious about the prospects of finding a buyer", the statement added.

[ChrisB]

"Clearly in the public interest"....

I'd like to see their explanation for that....the country will continue to trade with or without unfortunately

[ellendune]

"Clearly in the public interest"....

I'd like to see their explanation for that....the country will continue to trade with or without unfortunately

Agreed - and, unfortunately, it could be argued that a correction to the oversupply will make the other carriers more viable.

[didcotdean]

City Link hasn't turned a profit since 2007 - it must have burnt through tens of millions of pounds of its owners' money in that time.

I suspect when they called in for offers to buy bits of the company they asked too much. Existing carriers probably aren't interested in City Link's depots or systems, which are reported to be behind the times. Contracts were also up for sale, but other carriers would pick them up anyway, as has happened with John Lewis'. The rest will be picked up much more cheaply from the administrators/liquidators.

It has also been claimed that an erroneous report on Christmas Eve that City Link was already in administration sealed its fate as it then had to enter to protect against creditors and this scared off any ongoing interest. This report was an e-mail from an RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) official.

[JayMac]

More business for Yodel. Heaven help us. 

[tomL]

More business for Yodel. Heaven help us. 

Rather DPD take the business. But hey, ho. 

[Surrey 455]

Before Christmas we heard that Yodel and others apparently are struggling to keep up with the volume of parcels that we are ordering online so I was surprised to receive an alert today (Sunday!) from Amazon to tell me that they would be delivering part of my order today. The one that I placed yesterday morning. Don't know which courier company they used but there it was on my doormat this afternoon. I checked and double checked on my Amazon profile page to see if I had accidentally selected Prime. No, I hadn't. I checked my emails. This part of the order was scheduled to arrive from Fri 2nd Jan onwards so looks like Amazon or their couriers have a bit of time on their hands.

[Chris from Nailsea]

My son has also been pleasantly startled to receive deliveries of items ordered online from Amazon, way before he expected them to arrive - and he's an impatient teenager! 

[JayMac]

I've been invited to like a Facebook page calling for the nationalisation of City Link.

That isn't going to happen. I feel for those who are facing redundancy, but a government bail out is not the answer. They are reserved for the political classes' friends in the banking industry.

[LiskeardRich]

Before Christmas we heard that Yodel and others apparently are struggling to keep up with the volume of parcels that we are ordering online so I was surprised to receive an alert today (Sunday!) from Amazon to tell me that they would be delivering part of my order today. The one that I placed yesterday morning. Don't know which courier company they used but there it was on my doormat this afternoon. I checked and double checked on my Amazon profile page to see if I had accidentally selected Prime. No, I hadn't. I checked my emails. This part of the order was scheduled to arrive from Fri 2nd Jan onwards so looks like Amazon or their couriers have a bit of time on their hands.

I had a load of stuff arrive on a Sunday from Amazon a month or so ago, that I'd only ordered on the Friday. Not sure which courier as I was out and it was left with a neighbour. I was surprised for a Sunday delivery more than the speed

[didcotdean]

The RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) itself has an option to explore - to buy the business off the administrators and run it as a workers' cooperative.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Is that possibly what they were planning, behind the scenes? 

It has also been claimed that an erroneous report on Christmas Eve that City Link was already in administration sealed its fate as it then had to enter to protect against creditors and this scared off any ongoing interest. This report was an e-mail from an RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) official.