Lifeline offered to Fife P&H workers left without a job

Redundant staff urged to contact Livingston-based distribution firm

A Scottish haulage and distribution firm has stepped in to try to help out shellshocked Fife workers who lost their jobs earlier this week.

Livingston-based logistics provider Pollock (Scotrans) Limited has urged anyone made redundant by Palmer and Harvey McLane Limited (P&H) to contact them after more than 150 posts were axed at the latter’s site in Dunfermline.

P&H called in the administrators after being hit by challenging trading conditions in recent months, adding that efforts to restructure the business had proved unsuccessful.

Directors said the failure to secure a rescue deal had resulted in cash flow pressures which left them with no option but to shut up shop and cut 2,500 jobs across the UK.

However, a spokesperson for Pollock (Scotrans) Limited said it wanted to do all it could to help alleviate the situation.

“Following the announcement in the press of Palmer & Harvey entering administration, resulting in the loss of 2,500 jobs nationwide, Pollock (Scotrans) Ltd would like to reach out to all P&H employees who may be one of the people affected, to help with redeployment,” the company said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with those affected by this announcement and we would like to use our connections, and urge others in the industry, to help redeploy and lessen the impact of such a big employer within the logistics industry going into administration.”

Pollock (Scotrans) Ltd, which has been involved in general haulage, warehousing, distribution or logistics services for more than 75 years, added that it was recruiting for drivers in Fife, Bathgate, Tyneside and Blackburn in Lancashire.

Potential applicants should contact the company at enquiries@pollock.co. uk, or apply via its website.

P&H had around 90,000 customers, ranging from small local convenience stores to the UK’s largest supermarkets.

It operated a delivery network of 14 regional distribution centres which supplied up to 12,000 product lines.

With 2,500 immediate redundancies announced earlier this week, joint administrators with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said the remaining 900 will assist them in “managing the activities of the business to an orderly closure”.

Just 31 Scottish staff out of the 182-strong workforce north of the border have been kept on.

Pollock (Scotrans) Ltd would like to reach out to all P&H employees who may be one of the people affected