City Link collapse to be probed by MPs

City Link staff at a picket line outside the firm's base in Motherwell. Picture: PA

Members of the Scottish ­affairs committee yesterday met a number of workers and sub-contractors who lost out when the courier company called in the administrators.

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MPs on the committee are due to question Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, in Westminster today, while the business, innovation and skills select committee is pressing UK Business Secretary Vince Cable to investigate what happened at City Link.

Shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran pledged: “We are going to use every single platform we can to continue to raise this, because I think a lot of people think this is finished, but we cannot let this happen again and we need to reassure people we will do that.”

City Link, which had 2,727 employees across the UK, called in administrators after years of “substantial losses”.

Many of the company’s staff found out about its collapse on Christmas Day, with administrators announcing on New Year’s Eve that there would 2,356 job losses.

The company directly employed 165 people in Scotland.

Mick Ward, 47, from Bellshill, was told on Christmas Eve by the RMT that he was losing his job at the Motherwell depot. The driver said yesterday: It was as if there had been a death in the family. I was treated absolutely shockingly by City Link. There was no communication from them that I was being made redundant.” Pamela Nash, Labour MP for Airdrie and Shotts, said: “We are devastated for our constituents and appalled at what has happened, and we will do everything we can to investigate what has happened.”

Mr Ward, who had been the RMT representative at City Link’s Motherwell depot, told MPs: “It’s been over a fortnight now since the announcement; I thought maybe my anger and bitterness would have died down a little bit, but if anything it’s getting stronger.”

He welcomed the meeting in Glasgow “to try to keep the pressure on and get some answers” from bosses at the firm.

Gordon Martin, RMT regional organiser for Scotland, stated: “It’s far too easy under UK employment legislation for this kind of thing to happen.”

Scottish affairs committee chair Ian Davidson said: “There were rumours of the company closing beforehand but the employees were kept on working and given assurances, as were the sub-contractors, that everything was OK.”

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