AROUND 350 staff at Coventry’s Palmer and Harvey grocery wholesale depot have been made redundant.
The shock announcement weeks before Christmas was made to staff by administrators PwC at the premised in Dolomite Avenue yesterday.
The company had employed around 3,500 staff nationally before its insolvency. Around 2,500 are now out of work.
It supplies tobacco, alcohol and groceries to around 90,000 corner shops, petrol stations and other retailers around the country.
It is understood less than 50 staff are being kept on at the Coventry depot. A skeleton staff nationwide will assist towards an “orderly closure”, PwC said.
Around 350 others were informed they were being made redundant with immediate effect.
PwC said the group had been “hit by challenging trading conditions in recent months and efforts to restructure the business have been unsuccessful.
“This has resulted in cash flow pressures and it has not been possible to secure additional funding to support the business.”
Among customers is Costcutter, which has said it is searching for other suppliers.
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) union said the announcement was a “massive shock” in the run up to Christmas.
