City Link, one of the United Kingdom’s largest parcel delivery services, was placed in administration – similar to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. – on Dec. 24. This week, the company said about 2,000 employees will be “made redundant” and laid off on New Year’s Eve.
Coventry-based City Link has ceased to accept new parcels from customers. Its depots are to remain open into the new year with a substantially reduced staff to allow patrons to retrieve about 40,000 uncollected parcels. Customers who placed parcels with City Link on Christmas Eve were urged to pick them up.
Rival parcel delivery firm APC Overnight pledged today to offer up to 100 positions at its national sorting centre in the city of Cannock as well as other depots across the U.K., giving priority to laid-off City Link employees.
City Link, founded in 1969, had suffered several years of losses until 2013, when it was purchased by private equity firm Better Capital LLP. After investing more than £40 million to restructure the company, Better Capital was unable to turn City Link around.
Since Dec. 24, the business of City Link has been managed by joint administrators Hunter Kelly, Charles King and Tom Lukic of Ernst and Young.