City Link Bulwell job loss

48 workers at the Bulwell depot of parcel delivery firm City Link will lose their jobs on New Year’s Eve.
City LinkCity Link
City Link

News of the firm’s collapse and the loss of more than 2,000 jobs was announced on Christmas Eve, with many workers finding out via the BBC on Christmas Day.

Jon Moulton, the founder of Better Capital, which owned City Link, said delaying the closure over Christmas had not been an option, as trading while insolvent is a criminal offence.

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He also defended criticism that taxpayers would end up paying for City Link staff’s redundancy following administrator Ernst & Young’s (EY) statement that it would refer employees to the government’s statutory redundancy payments scheme.

Transport Union RMT told its members on Christmas Eve that it understood that wages owed up to 31st December would be paid, but any further payments were not guaranteed.

RMT’s General Secretary Mick Cash said: “It says everything about the state of industry in Britain today that a donor to the party of government can wreck the lives of thousands of people, walk away and leave the taxpayer to pick up the redundancy costs.”

But Mr Moulton said: “I don’t think the taxpayer is going to end up footing much of a bill on this.”

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He said that City Link had paid “a fortune” in taxes such as PAYE and said ultimately the government would be a net beneficiary of Better Capital’s investment in the firm.

Mr Moulton, a multi-millionaire worth a reported £170 million, said he personally had lost £2 million on the firm’s investment in City Link.

His investment firm Better Capital bought City Link for just £1 in April last year, and he claimed he could turn the struggling firm around.

The business has ceased to accept new parcels from customers and its depots will remain open for a short period of time to enable people to collect parcels on Monday 29 December.

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