Yodel national hubs to shut over next six weeks

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Yodel will shut four of its eight national hubs within six weeks, consolidating them into a giant Wednesbury hub, putting numerous jobs at risk, Roadtransport.com can exclusively reveal.

Jonathan Smith, Yodel chief executive, confirmed last month that hubs in Manchester, Bristol, Coleshill in Hams Hall and Morley in Leeds would definitely close, as well as up to 60 of the network's 120 depots, as part of restructure plans, between now and the end of 2012.

However, in a letter leaked to Roadtransport.com's sister title Motor Transport, Yodel Transport's MD, Jamie Stephenson, tells employees, including van and lorry drivers, as well as warehousing staff, that the four national hubs should close by the end of July.

Volumes at each site will move to a new 121,000ft2 superhub in Wednesbury over the next four to six weeks, beginning on Friday 17 June, with some 75,000 consignments at Hams Hall beginning to transfer over.

Stephenson states: "Everyone directly affected has now been advised on how this will affect them. I am really pleased to let you know that alternative roles have been identified for some of our colleagues in neighbouring service centres, and some have commenced on a retraining programme to become LGV drivers in our transport operation."

He adds: "I would like to put on record my personal appreciation for their [colleagues] ongoing commitment and support during what has undoubtedly been a difficult time for them. I would also like to wish them all well for the future."

The parcel giant, which was created after the merger of HDNL and DHL Domestic last year, says it is still in talks with employees, so it is too early to say how many jobs will be lost.

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So.. two competitors dhl and the home delivery network have become one which is now shedding jobs!
sounds like a healthy market to me.
If the governments dsa ("open up the market")strategy was working there would be more companies out there?
is it a knockout competition?
last one standing gets Royal Mail.