City Link owner defends actions

29 December 2014 Last updated at 10:09

Jon Moulton, the founder of Better Capital, which owned collapsed UK parcel delivery service City Link, said the firm's administration could not have been handled any better.

News of the collapse was announced on Christmas Eve, but Mr Moulton said the timing could not have been avoided.

Some 2,000 staff are due to be made redundant from the firm, now being run by administrators, on New Year's Eve,

City Link customers are being urged to collect parcels from depots on Monday.

"We chased every possible way to save this company," Mr Moulton told Radio 4's Today.

Mr Moulton said delaying the closure of City Link over Christmas had not been an option, as trading while insolvent was a criminal offence.

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'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."

Personal loss

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

"The taxpayer has certainly made an enormous amount of money out of private equity companies and their trading and success.

"We are looking after money that has been given to us to invest, we are in the business of trying to make money for our investors," he added.

Mr Moulton, a multi-millionaire, said he personally had lost £2m on the firm's investment in City Link.

Better Capital, in its first statement since the firm went into administration, said earlier on Monday that it had tried various options to "maximise" its investment in City Link, including an unsuccessful attempt to sell the business.

"In light of continued substantial losses, City Link could not continue as a going concern," it said.

City Link, which was founded in 1969, was acquired by restructuring specialist Better Capital for just £1 in April 2013.

Parcel collections

On Friday, EY confirmed "substantial redundancies" were expected "over the coming days".

The firm also said parcel depots would "remain open for a short period of time" to enable customers and intended recipients to collect their parcels.

It advised customers to use City Link's online tracking system to find out which depot to go to.

Coventry-based City Link employs 2,727 people.

It called in administrators on Christmas Eve after years of "substantial losses".

Union RMT said it had been told by administrators that more than 2,000 staff will be made redundant on New Year's Eve. Remaining staff will be retained in the short term to wind down the company, union officials said.

'Substantial redundancies'

On Friday EY said it was currently assessing the company and the status of existing orders.

"This process will have a bearing on the number of employees retained and those that unfortunately face redundancy in the next few days," it said in a statement.

"It is anticipated that there will be substantial redundancies over the coming days, at which point the administrators will provide a further update."

It said it anticipated that "a portion of employees" would be retained for up to three months.

Administrators were currently gathering expressions of interest from parties interested in acquiring specific assets, divisions of the business or the entire firm, it added.

But given the previous unsuccessful sale process administrators were "cautious about the prospects of finding a buyer", the statement added.

City Link employees
Location	Total employees
Aberdeen	19
Ashford	24
Bangor	16
Basingstoke	25
Beckenham	23
Beckton	32
Belfast	23
Bicester	28
Birmingham	70
Bournemouth	32
Bristol	50
Cardiff	44
Carlisle	28
Chelmsford	48
Coventry	404
Cowes	4
Durham	56
Edinburgh	22
Edmonton	36
Epsom	22
Exeter	41
Gatwick	42
Glasgow	75
Glenrothes	22
Gloucester	32
Guildford	24
Hatfield	116
Heathrow	132
Leeds	1
Leeming	34
Leicester	1
Lincoln	25
London City	19
London West Central	43
Maidstone	48
Manchester	67
Milton Keynes	91
Morley	74
Motherwell	27
Newcastle	45
Newmarket	1
Northampton	47
Norwich	44
Nottingham	48
Peterborough	63
Plymouth	58
Preston	52
Reading	2
Rotherham	34
Scunthorpe	28
Shrewsbury	38
Southampton	33
Stafford	40
Swansea	30
Swindon	73
Warrington	115
West Bromwich	56

Are you a City Link employee or sub-contractor? You can email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience. Please include a telephone number if you are willing to be contacted by a BBC journalist.

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