The axe looks set to fall on 45 jobs at a Penrith depot where employees were involved in the storage and delivery of chilled food to supermarkets.
Staff at the depot, which mostly serviced Scotland, were reportedly told last Friday that their “jobs had gone” and the company they worked for, EVCL Chill Ltd, was now in the hands of administrators PwC.
Eddie Williams, joint administrator, said: “This has been a very difficult situation and involved intense discussions with key stakeholders on an accelerated basis to get to this position.
“As businesses move from survival mode to recovery, the financial climate is still very volatile.”
The Unite union has vowed to fully assist all its members affected by the collapse of EVCL Chill after it filed for administration.
A spokesman said EVCL Chill had a number of major contracts for supermarkets including Asda and Sainsbury’s and employed over 1,000 workers in warehousing and HGV driving roles.
Of the 1,092 full-time employees at the company, a total of 658 roles were transferred under contractual arrangements to provide continuity for parts of EVCL Chill.
However, it is expected the remaining workers at the company will be made redundant.
“Unite will be providing support to help the affected workers find new work and will also be seeking to take a protective award on behalf of its members for the failure of the company to inform and consult with them before making them redundant,” said a spokesman.
PwC said EVCL Chill had a turnover of £167m in the 12 months to December 2020, and was profitable, but had been hit hard by a loss of customers and the current driver shortages.
