Fellows loses BS job
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by Grant Prior • A Midlands haulier will wave goodbye to a £750,000 a year contract when British Steel shuts its tubing factory in Birmingham in April. Ellis J Fellows Transport and Trading has carried out distribution work from the plant for the past 28 years. The closure announcement has come as a double blow to the firm which lost another £200,000 job last year when Allied Reinforcement closed its manufacturing plant in Smethwick.
Owner Ellis Fellows is now looking for replacement work to guarantee the future of his 40 drivers and 37-strong fleet. "We work for a lot of other firms but the British Steel job was our biggest. It has been a good customer and it feels a bit like the magic carpet has been pulled from under us," says Fellows.
British Steel is closing the seamless tube plant due to overcapacity in the industry. Export haulage at the site was carried out on a load-by-load basis to whichever firm came up with the cheapest quote.