Evans Halshaw cuts jobs

A major car dealership with branches across the West Midlands is axeing jobs, it announced today.

Nottingham-based Pendragon, which owns Evans Halshaw and Stratstone, warned of a sharp decline in used and new car markets as it announced 500 job cuts to trim costs. The group, which operates in Wolverhampton, Stourbridge, West Bromwich, Walsall and Stafford and employs 15,700 people, said it was "difficult to forecast" prospects this year.

Meanwhile one of the UK's leading independent mortgage brokers, John Charcol, is shedding nearly 70 staff and closing offices in Birmingham, Manchester and Guildford.

Chief executive Ian Kennedy has left the mortgage broker as it announced plans to cut staff numbers by a quarter.

Two of those employed in Birmingham are moving to another office and two have lost their jobs.

The news comes as the Bank of England reported that the number of mortgages approved for people buying a house sank to a record low during May. Loans agreed slumped by 28 per cent to 42,000 – a third of the number agreed in May last year.

Meanwhile, the price of oil reached a new record today when it broke through 143 dollars a barrel.