what cunts what utter utter cunts

[earplugsahoy]

I am not being unreasonable.. I am sat in floods of tears.

My DH just received a text from a friend asking if he has seen the news.. His company has gone into administration as of yesterday and announced in the news this afternoon on Christmas day

He had no idea, noone even the manager's had any idea.. There has been rumours going round and some suspicious activity but noone expected this.

One big manager left this week, and changed his mobile number (funny that)

The news quote from the administration says significant job losses over the next few days, i feel bitterly angry that the fat cats in their nice cars have kept this to themselves until after Christmas so not to lose all the staff

Dh was offered a job last month and i convinced him not to leave as it fits all our needs etc

earplugs - please don't lose hope. As your DH was employed he is protected and in a much 'better' position in terms of being paid what he is owed than any of the subcontracted staff are. The insolvency service will ensure he is paid any outstanding overtime, holidays and statutory redundancy pay. It is possible that it may happen after his scheduled pay date (and God, I know how that feels as our rent is due today), but he will get it.

Sadly, it looks like DH could lose most/all of what he is owed - we are hoping that is not the case, but it will take a long time for our claim to be settled in any case. Our only hope is if he is considered as a preferential creditor, which would put him on a similar priority to employed staff.

DH and I agreed it was going to be easier for drivers to secure alternative work as the volume of parcels are still there - albeit in fewer depots. And there lies the problem. Whilst additional drivers will be required (DH has been a courier for many years and is well liked and respected - he starts tomorrow with DPD, but how we will afford the fuel, van and insurance is anyone's guess), there will not be the same need for office staff.

Good luck

Actually, Better Capital were the major investors (and owners). They withdrew £20m of their £40m investment earlier this month...

The owners and the shareholders will have access to money and resources that will make this far less of a problem for them, than it will be for everyone else in the company like earplugs and bunny.

Sorry to hear what everyone is going through. Such a shitty thing to happen its featured heavily on the Mirrors front page tomorrow.

bunnyjo Better Capital brought CL from rentokil for £1 in 2013 and invested £40m. Since then it has lost £40m and stopped trading. They have not withdrawn £20m, but written off £20m as never recoverable for them. I assume they hope to get some money back from selling fixed assets etc. However, as stated above, they will be at the back of the queue for any payouts, so will not get any of the £40m back unless all other creditors (staff, SE drivers, suppliers etc) get thier money back first.
Arabella I'm not sure what system could keep a company going that was losing over £20m a year.

Bunnyjo I find it entirely likely that the decision could not be taken until the results of banking on 23 December were known early on 24 December, then a few hours to analyse and consider. Very sad for all concerned especially for the franchisees. If they have been paying Schedule D DWP will have nothing for them.

Given that the company was worth £1 a year ago I don't see that this should have particularly come as a surprise to anyone.

It should have been obvious to the employees for some time that the company was in the shit.

usefully in fact no, it wasn't clear to anyone that the company is in the shit.

In the last few months, the whole workforce were given brand new uniform at a cost of 2m

Then new scanners have recently been given, a whole new system.

Dh thought they were probably going to close another small depot, or move them to a smaller depot to save money.
He has is very close with his managers (we holiday with them) and not a single one of them could predict this situation was going to happen.

However, his dept was the best performing in the countryside, so it is possible that other depots saw this coming and we were oblivious to the world.

However, as stated above, they will be at the back of the queue for any payouts, so will not get any of the £40m back unless all other creditors (staff, SE drivers, suppliers etc) get thier money back first.

caroldecker - Better Capital are a secured creditor. They will get their money before any unsecured creditor. Excerpt from Daily Fail article:

"The private equity group is one of the firm’s ‘secured creditors’, meaning it will get a priority ranking in any distribution from the realisation of City Link’s asset, EY said."

As it stands, DH is an unsecured creditor. If DH cannot claim as a preferential creditor, then we are likely to see nothing of the money he is owed.

spectacular piece of victim blaming from usefully there.

victim blaming?? Don't make me laugh

Your post came across as very smug, as if it's the workers fault this has happened

The union met with administrators today this link makes pretty harrowing reading..
RMT meeting with City Link administrators - rmt -

[http://www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-meeting-with-city-link-administrators/]

RMT meeting with City Link administrators - rmt -

www.rmt.org.uk/news/rmt-meeting-with-city-link-administrators/

Of course it isn't the workers fault - I have no idea how you would get that from my post.

CityLink had lost £400m in the five years before they were taken over by Better Capital. Since they were taken over in April they've lost another £40m.

The writing has been on the wall for a while. I'm not blaming the workers in any way for the losses, of course not. But they were there to see if you wanted to look.

You're talking utter bollocks

Did you read my reply to you above?

No worker could see this coming..

• New uniform investment
• New scanner investment
• Highest performing depot in the country, many depots making profits.

The only people who knew what dire straights the company were in is the ceo's who put it into administration.

It's actually quite offensive that you seem to think an employee would see it.. It's like saying "ohh you should of got a new job before this happened"

The takeover by Better Capital was public and covered by the newspapers. The financial information wasn't a secret.

I'm not saying every employee is going to take a keen interest in the financial affairs of the company and read the FT. Obviously they don't.

It's a shame that employees have been caught by surprise by the company going bust, and obviously the timing, with Christmas, is terrible.

I hope that everyone who is owed money sees some of it back, and that employees find jobs soon. Seems unlikely that there'll be much cash around to pay off what's owed though

Just to answer your point about the uniform "investment", these uniforms were largely paid for by the self employed contractors themselves. Therefore it might have looked to all intents and purposes as if there was money to chuck around, but actually it cost the company very little.

Employed staff didn't have to pay for their uniform though. It cost £2million to kit them all out, they wrote about it in the newsletter.

Everyone got new contracts when they brought it for £1 and promises were made to turn things around.

On monday they were all aware there was going to be an announcement, everyone including several depot manager's believed that is was going to be restructuring of depots and the systems.
Not a single member of the staff in dh's office thought this would happen.

Read the RMT link i just posted above, the only way we will see any money is by claiming from the government fund which according to their fact sheet takes 3 -6 weeks.. That's after requesting a form.

I would question the decision to spend £2m on uniforms when the company hadn't made a profit in ten years.

Certainly seems as if that money could have been better used elsewhere.

I suppose hindsight has 20/20 vision and all that

The company was losing £4m a month, so new uniforms are neither here nor there. I would argue the directors have some responsibility from the 22nd (based on RMT link) but i assume they have had advice from the administrators.
Whilst rubbish for self-employed contractors, declaring insolvency on 22nd would have left many people and company's such as JL, in the lurch waiting for Christmas parcels.

A government backed bailout of a company that has made losses for over 5 years is a bonkers suggestion (again from the RMT). This ia around £10,000 a year per 'job', around £20,000 per employee.
Unlike the banks, where we will get our money back eventually.

A government bailout? That's nuts.

The government can't bail out every company which runs out of cash ad inifinitum.

Given that citylink hadn't returned a profit in ten years it needed to be put out of its misery at some point.

Of course it's dreadful for the employees and contractors, but loss making companies simply can't go on forever. At some point you have to stop throwing good money after bad.

I very much doubt they will be open past Wednesday.

A very sad end. For many, far to many people.

I hope the government finds any wrong doing and makes an example of them

earplug I doubt very much there is any wrongdoing. The company cost Rentokill £400m and Better Capital £20m plus and provided jobs whilst doing so - there is an argument that it should have shut years ago.