Up to 20 people at a delivery firm’s Lockerbie depot lost their jobs this week when the company was plunged into administration.
Tuffnells Parcel Express, which has bases across the country, is axing all but 128 of its 2,200 strong workforce.
The bombshell news was delivered to staff called in to meetings at 33 depots last Friday.
The Sheffield-based business appointed joint administrators at Interpath Advisory when it failed to secure new funding.
There was no reply this week from the phone at unit six in Lockerbie’s Bridge Street and just an answering machine directing callers to an email address for customer relations.
All its transport hubs and depots have been closed.
Rick Harrison, joint administrator, said: “Unfortunately, the highly competitive nature of the UK parcel delivery market, coupled with significant inflation across the company’s fixed cost base in recent times, has resulted in the company experiencing intense pressure on cashflow.”
He appreciated the news would be “devastating” for employees and added: “Regrettably, with deliveries suspended and with no prospect of them resuming in the immediate term, we have had to make the majority of staff redundant.”
Joint administrator Howard Smith said customers would be aware all the firm’s transport hubs and depots were shut and stated: “Our team will be making contact with customers over the coming days to arrange parcel collection.”
The Sheffield-based delivery company was founded when Harold Tuffnell bought a horse and cart for just £100 and began delivering goods in
1914.
Tuffnells had been under financial pressure since the Covid-19 pandemic plus rising costs and competition.
