Firm finished by ' loss of contract
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Guy Sheppard • A Black Country haulage company has folded following the loss of a chemical distribution contract, but the jobs of 14 drivers have been transferred to another business.
Cradley Heath-based Hughes & Johnson Transport was founded in the 1930s and had a fleet of 15 vehicles. It went into voluntary liquidation last week with the loss of 12 administration and warehousing jobs.
Managing director Simon Johnson said all creditors should be paid.
He blamed the closure on the loss of the chemical contract two years ago which accounted for 30% of the company's business. "We wanted an increase in rates to cope with increasing fuel duties and they wanted to decrease them," he says.
A subsequent restructuring failed to find enough alternative work.
All but two of the drivers and all of the vehicles have been transferred to Warley-based Johnson Transport, where Johnson is also a director. "We have plenty of work here," he says. "We have widened up the pallet and general haulage side."
Johnson led a management buy-out of the Craciley Heath business six years ago but it had always traded independently of Johnson Transport, which now employs 20 drivers.