BLEAK LANDSCAPE
135 staff given a day’s notice as Land Engineering bought by French firm
WORKERS were given a day’s notice of their jobs being dumped after a Scots firm called in administrators.
The loyal employees of Land Engineering (Scotland) Limited were told yesterday they would be given statutory redundancy terms, despite some of the 135 affected having worked there for decades.
Staff turned up at their office at The Skypark in Finnieston, Glasgow, to find a note on the door telling them to go to the firm’s HQ in Fenwick, Ayrshire, to sort out formalities.
One worker, who contacted the Record, said: “We are very, very angry at the way this has been handled. We were told the company was put into administration on Tuesday morning and that by Tuesday night it had been bought by a French company.
“It’s disgusting. There are guys who have been here for 30 years who are going to end up with nothing.”
Land Engineering, owned by Gardrum Investments Ltd, have operated for 37 years and have several site offices, which will be taken over by French landscaping firm idverde. Andrew Davison, from administrators EY Ltd, said the directors called them in to “help safeguard elements of the business”. The sale will see 249 staff move to idverde, who have bought the firm’s services, responsive and winter divisions, and their interest in contracts at Grangemouth, Craighouse and Quartermile.
But 135 have been made redundant with immediate effect, while 10 have been retained to assist the administrators with their duties.
Instead of getting the settlement they would have expected, staff have been given “appropriate advice and support in making claims for redundancy and notice pay”.
When the Record phoned Land Engineering’s office to ask why staff were being sold short, we were referred to the administrators.
Our calls to director Stuart Dillett were not returned.
An EY spokeswoman said: “If an employee’s redundancy exceeds the capped government limit for statutory redundancy, they are fully entitled to claim against their insolvent employer for the amount above this cap but this element of their claim will have to wait until dividend prospects for creditors are known.” Thirteen Turkish soldiers were killed yesterday when a helicopter crashed in Sirnak province after getting caught in a high-voltage power line.