120 jobs slashed across Stobart depots
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11 High-profile haulier Eddie Stobart is slashing more than 120 jobs from its workforce in the run-up to Christmas but denies the company is in trouble.
It is shutting its depot in Stamford, Linos with the loss of nearly 80 jobs after a major customer moved its depot to the Midlands. Now 20 drivers based at Kingstown, Carlisle and a similar number at Lillyhall, Workington have been told that they will be made redundant unless they move to depots in the Midlands or the South. Chairman and chief executive Edward Stobart says: 'This is a shake-up we have planned for several months. Our workload is shifting south. Our trading figures are fine—we've not got a problem whatsoever. If TDG or Hays move people around nobody comments. Stobarts does it and the whole world gets to know about it."
Stobart insists there will be no further redundancies. He adds that his firm, which runs more than 1,100 trucks with more than 2,700 staff, is bigger than this time last year The Transport and General Workers Union, which represents most of Stobart's drivers, says the firm has not asked for voluntary redundancies; instead, it is working on a lastin/first-out policy.
One driver says: "They've already closed a couple of depots in the South. The price of fuel does have a lot to do with the state of the industry at the moment, but I don't think that's the only reason."
Stobart recently closed its Avonmouth depot with the loss of 23 jobs.