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Pickfords closes eight depots
Page 16
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Falling property prices are having on knock-on effect on removals firms, including some household names. Guy Sheppard reports
REMOVALS GIANT Pickfords is closing down some of its depots, citing falling demand in the UK housing market.
Eight of the company's 93 sites are to close, but no compulsory redundancies are planned.
Pickfords says fewer than 40 people work at the affected sites and they are all being offered work elsewhere in the business.
The depots concerned are in Bexhill, Chichester, Fulham, Greenock,Hull,Kendai, Stoke and Yeovil. Most are small operations — one employs just one person.
The closures follow the opening of a new branch in Leicester in March to meet rising demand in the East Midlands.
Consumer services division director Andy Steele says: "The UK market has been hit not just in terms of falling property prices but, critically for us, in terms of the number of physical moves."
Ron Webb, national road transport secretary at the Transport & General Workers Union, says consultation about the closures began a month ago: "Our top priority is to keep employment for those who want it and we are working for as many as possible to be located elsewhere in the company."
But he adds that the restructuring might not be confined to the eight depots: "Pickfords are moving very quickly to improve their position in the marketplace. I think there's potential for further changes in the future."