John Dee emerges in Merlin and TransEurope
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by Miles Brignall • John Dee, the County Durham-based haulage firm that went into administration owing more than at the beginning of November, is being split into two businesses.
Merlin Distribution is to take over the contracts to distribute for DIY group Magnet which accounts for the majority of the business. The rest has been sold to All Reed, former Dee shareholder and managing director of Dartford-based TransEurope Distribution.
More than 90 former John Dee staff, including 75 drivers, and several vehicles will move across to Merlin under the terms of the deal.
Meanwhile 30 vehicles and drivers together with 10 other staff will join TransEurope working out of Dee's Rotherham and Bishop Auckland sites. TransEurope carries general haulage across the UK and into eastern Europe. Neither company will say how much they paid for the separated parts of the business.
Merlin's commercial director David Hall says the operation will be split into branch delivery and home delivery. Both sets of drivers' pay and conditions are guaranteed under the terms of the deals.
Adrian Van Spall of Transhaul International, who is owed around £42,000 by John Dee, has received a letter demanding payment £12,000 for fuel used while working on Dee contracts. He has been told not to worry about it by Dee's administrators but is concerned the debt collecting agency will pursue him.