Delivery business goes bust with loss of more than 2,000 jobs

Tuffnells Parcels Express, which provided delivery services to more than 4,000 businesses across the UK, has gone into administration after failing to secure new funding.

Administrators at Interpath Advisory said that the firm’s transport hubs and depots have been closed.

Meanwhile, the majority of Tuffnells' 2,200 employees, working across its 33 UK depots, will be made redundant. Just 128 staff have been retained.

Rick Harrison, joint administrator, said: "Unfortunately, the highly competitive nature of the UK parcel delivery market, coupled with significant inflation across the company's fixed cost base in recent times, has resulted in the company experiencing intense pressure on cashflow."

The devastating news comes just four months after Tuffnells, which operated more than 1,000 commercial vehicles, said it would invest £4 million to upgrade its fleet this year, as part of a wider business improvement plan worth £7m

The company’s fleet was also set to benefit from the introduction of newer, more energy efficient vehicles featuring technology such as cameras and telematics capabilities.

During 2022, 137 new Euro 6 standard vehicles were delivered as part of the upgrade plan, with a commitment made for a further 184 this year.

A significant upgrade to Tuffnells’ route optimisation technology was one of the top priorities of the investment plans, leading to higher efficiency and visibility of collection and delivery rounds, while reducing emissions across the fleet.

Additional plans for this round of funding included a key upgrade to the IDW parcel carrier’s ePOD scanning devices and enabling Tuffnells to take full advantage of the latest in scanning technology.

At the time, Michael Holt, chairman of Tuffnells, said: “These are game-changing investments which, together, provide a confident roadmap for the next phase in our journey.

“It is our ambition to be the technology leader in our sector, and by providing the necessary funding for operational excellence, we will enable our team members to deliver hugely positive change for our customers."

Harrison said he appreciated the news would be "devastating" for employees.

"Regrettably, with deliveries suspended and with no prospect of them resuming in the immediate term, we have had to make the majority of staff redundant."

He said their first priority would be to support all those affected and helping them to make claims to the Redundancy Payments Office.

Joint administrator Howard Smith said customers would be aware all the firm's transport hubs and depots were shut.

"Our team will be making contact with customers over the coming days to arrange parcel collection," he added.