Car dealership warns of ‘potential redundancies’ in letter to staff

A CAR dealership with offices in Castle Donington has sent a letter to staff claiming there could be “potential redundancies”.

Available Car, which also has sites in Sutton in Ashfield and Cannock, said there were challenging times ahead but the chief executive of the company, Michael Bell, said the business would not close as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company would not go into details about the redundancy part of the letter, and it is not known how many staff would be affected if this happened.

The letter states the business was doing well and sold more than 200 cars up to Thursday, June 11, but it also says: “We have chosen to start the proceedings of consultancy over potential redundancies.

“With such a challenging market ahead we believe that the company needs the flexibility to react if and when the timing is right dependent on market conditions.

“We’d like to thank everyone that has come back to work so far. Their hard work and efforts are helping grow the company back up and driving the future of Available Car forward, hopefully enabling further returns to work in the weeks ahead.

“The camaraderie and teamwork has been a joy to see and is showing us that with this kind of attitude we will recover ahead of our competitors.”

Mr Bell said: “Available Car, like so many retail businesses, has been challenged during Covid-19 and though we have had a great return since opening the doors on June 1, like all retail demand is behind pre lockdown - the impact of the global pandemic has unfortunately already caused many businesses to close. We will not be one of them.

“Because our directors and senior management team were able to react decisively and efficiently, and because we have many years of experience with an excellent trading record and a strong, loyal customer base, we know our business will make it through without critical ‘damage.’

“Inevitably the Covid-19 crisis has had an impact. As CEO of AvailableCar, my responsibility is, and will always be, to ensure the stability of the business - and in doing so I will protect the jobs of the vast majority of our staff now and for many years to come.

“As a family business we depend on our staff and our ability to deliver excellent customer service and I will ensure that continues.”