Axed Amtrak staff tell of devastation

Dejected workers at the doomed Aldridge base of a national parcel freight company today spoke out after more than 200 jobs were axed.

The 230 staff at the Amtrak headquarters in Northgate Way are among 900 people across the country being made redundant after the firm went into administration.

A spokesman for administrators Ernst and Young said employees would be kept on until the end of the week while the firm was wound down but workers at the site said they were in the dark about their immediate future.

Commercial analyst Chris Richards, aged 26, from Aldridge, said the mood at the site was sombre.

"People are just standing around not knowing what to do," he said. "We were told the company was closing down but they haven't said what's happening to all the jobs yet. I've been here five years but there are plenty of of others who have been here more than 20 and don't know any other industry.

"These people have houses and families to pay for. I'm going to have to get on the internet and look for a new job."

Maintenance worker Bill Haycock, aged 47, from Walsall, said: "Everyone is absolutely gutted.

"It's really bad, especially with how the economy is at the moment.

"I have only been here for three years but there are a lot of people who have been here for much longer. It's terrible, but you only have to look at the rest of the country to see the problems elsewhere. We'll just have to find something else; you've got to pay the mortgage somehow." Driver Kenneth Farnell, aged 53, from Hednesford, has been working at Amtrak for four years.

"We didn't know anything about this until the other day," he said.

"Obviously everyone here is pretty fed up, but they said that if we didn't come in this week then we wouldn't get paid anything," he added.

"Stuart Pridgeon, who owns SP Delivery Services, provided drivers for Amtrak from his agency in Lincolnshire.

He said he had to let around 20 drivers go and he claims he found out the company was being wound up through one of his drivers.

"The company went into administration at the start of 2007 as well before it was taken over by current owners Netfold and I lost out then as well," he said. "I just can't believe this has happened."

Remaining deliveries will be completed, administrators have said. Amtrak operates two distribution hubs in Aldridge and Warrington, together with 36 distribution depots across the UK, employing over 900 people in total. The company was launched in 1987 and set up base in the West Midlands because of the region's position in the national transport network.

It had built up a nationwide network of depots and had more than 1,000 delivery vehicles operated by staff and franchised drivers.