Drivers walk into dispute
Page 5
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• Interlink Express Parcels pulled the plug on its subcontractor Night Trunkers last Friday following a dispute which has been running for several months.
Night Trunkers managing director Michael Parker says that he was given no notice of the decision, which has left 35 people out of work.
"They've terminated the agreement despite asking us to continue working until the dispute is settled in court," he adds. "We had a five-year contract which we were just eighteen months into. Some of the lads had been there 16 years and as far as I know there have been no problems."
Night Trunkers had a contract with Interlink to trunk between Scotland and Birmingham and between Birmingham and London.
Chris Ogg is director of technical and engineering services at Parceline, which oversees the Interlink depot at Kidderminster. He confirms that the contract has been terminated but says: "Given the existence of the court proceedings it is not appropriate that Interlink should make any further comment or statement on this issue at this stage."
In a related incident agency drivers hired by Parceline to move the trucks Night Trunkers had stopped using walked away from the job fearing recriminations from what they thought were sacked employees.
One driver claims a security guard told him "there might be some trouble with the guys you're taking over from". At this point the drivers left for London.
Ogg denies there was any conflict and says the drivers over-reacted to a straightforward situation.
Parker also dismisses the idea that any of his staff would have acted aggressively towards the agency drivers.