Force 10 wind of change
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by Miles Brignall • Customers and subcontractors of parcels delivery specialist Force 10 are waiting to see what changes will be made after the firm ceased trading last Friday (22 September).
It is unclear if creditors of the firm will receive all money owed.
A new limited company, Force Ten Parcels Systems, started business on the following Monday.
New chairman William Bowers is unable to give any guarantees, but says: "Everyone involved in Force 10 will be all right."
The new firm will operate out of Force 10's hub in Wednesbury in the West Midlands.
All warehousing staff previously employed by the company have been kept on and a set of directors appointed, according to sources in the company.
Despite this, the move is being viewed sceptically by many in an industry which has been plagued with difficulties over the past two years. Transend and Placketts both went into receivership at this time last year blaming cut throat competition within the industry.
There is traditionally some rearrangement in the industry before the busy Christmas period and this may be one such restructuring, say parcels insiders.
The firm was originally run as a co-operative. Bowers says it had to become a limited company "to allow it to grow substantially".