York seeks franchisees
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• Trailer manufacturer York is to franchise out its aftemiarket operation during the first three months of the year and will shut five of its parts and service depots.
The first agent to be appointed is Glasgow-based bodybuilder Colin Hutton. The others will be in Warrington, Leeds, London and the West Midlands.
York's existing Avonmouth branch will be kept in-house and is likely to be converted into the group's main trailer and body refurbishment centre.
The move, which is part of a York group strategy to concentrate on its core business of trailer and body manufacture, follows its sale of United Rentals in August.
It will mean that about 40 workshop staff at Warrington, Leeds, Dagenham, Cannock and Glasgow will lose their jobs. York employs 1,864 across the group. The company has not considered management buyout bids from existing in-house workshops for any of the franchises.
Managing director Jim Davies says he has been choosey about who he has given franchises to: "We will only get into bed with people with whom we've got a mutual respect. Undertaking work to our standard is a condition and we will enforce it. We will retain a central service manager to maintain quality."
The central service manager will be based in Corby. There will also be a fleet of mobile vans to reach customers in remote parts of the UK. Most of the six branches will handle tipper bodywork from York subsidiary Neville Charrold. The Leeds and Avonmouth branches will be agents for reefer manufacturer Thermostar.