Jobs woe for Rotherham hauliers

DOZENS of Rotherham jobs are at risk after a haulage firm went into adminstration.

Insolvency firm MCR was appointed to handle the case of 21st Century Logistics, which owns the Dodd’s Group.

The development is affecting about 90 employees at depots on Mansfield Road, Aston and in Sittingbourne, Kent.

Swedish businessman Frederik Helander bought Dodd’s earlier this year. Directors David Pink, Carole Dodd and former owner Jim Dodd all quit in May.

The firm was founded almost a century ago and became specialised in transporting groceries, industrial and high-value goods.

21st Century Logistics lost nearly £400,000 before tax for the year ending September 2010.

Meanwhile, 15 jobs have been lost at council housing contractors Willmott-Dixon.

The redundancies are all among drivers who recently transferred over to the private company after it won the council homes maintenance contract for south Rotherham.

Rotherham Borough Council’s own direct workforce lost out in the contract tendering process, although many workers were transferred over to Willmott-Dixon.

Willmott Dixon said that the job cuts were a result of efficiencies made at the firm’s Rotherham depot.

Gas installation firm Fulcrum Connections this week moved from Greasbrough Road, Rotherham, to new premises at the Sheffield airport site—four months after 70 jobs were shed to turn round the company.

Fulcrum, which employs 203 people, with 122 on the Catcliffe site, said its new base offered an improved working environment close to the M1.

A spokesman said the job cuts, which were made between April and May, were part of a strategy for the business to improve its profitability and had nothing to do with the move.