Coloroll collapse bites
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• Transport companies carrying out distribution for beleaguered furnishings group Coloroll, which went into receivership last week with debts of up to 2350m, have been hit hard by its collapse.
William Barrett, Coloroll's furniture division in Dudley, West Midlands, has closed with the loss of 600 jobs. Ryder Distribution, which operated the transport contract, refused to comment until it had been in touch with the receiver.
At Coloroll's home furnishings plant in Boston, Lincs, the 1,100-strong workforce has been cut by 400. BRS Midlands handled its distribution and a spokesman for the company said he could not comment now the receiver had taken over.
But small hauliers on contract to the company's wallcoverings division in Gainsborough, Lincs, admit they are "very worried" about the situation. The Gainsborough plant had handled its own in-house transport operations until last Christmas, when it contracted the work out to five operators in the area.
A spokesman for Griffin Transport, Newark, said the firm was owed a substantial amount of money. "We have not been paid for two months," he says, "and this contract makes up 25% of our work with three vehicles on hire." Griffin has now been contracted to work for the receivers, who are trying to sell the division as a going concern.
Mansfield-based Transvan which had one vehicle dedicated to the Coloroll contract, has not been paid since February and is waiting to have a meeting with the receiver this week.
Another Lincolnshire company, which did not want to be named, says one-third of its fleet was on Coloroll contracts. "We don't want to say too much in case it jeopardises our position but it does not seem good," says a spokesman.
Geoff Espin, district secretary for the Lincoln district of the Transport and General Workers' Union, says it has been rumoured that the Gainsborough operation had been sold. At the moment, the plant is still producing.
Exel Logistics' Newcastleunder-Lyme branch is also concerned about the future of its contract with Coloroll's Denby tableware division. "We have had this contract since February and have 12 vehicles carrying out the distribution work," says Exel's Jim McColl. "Although the receiver is allowing Denby to continue to manufacture at the moment we are worried."