Milk depots fail to find buyers

DFOB was responsible for 10% of UK milk production

Further jobs have been lost in the wake of the collapse of the Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFOB) co-operative.

Receivers PriceWaterhouseCoopers announced on Tuesday it was unable to find buyers for 17 depots, leading to a total of 250 redundancies.

However, buyers for five further depots had been found, with 172 jobs saved.

It followed last week's closure of dairies at Blaydon, Lincoln and Bridgend, with the loss of more than 650 jobs.

Depots which have had to close are at Carlisle, Blaydon, South Shields, Benton, Aberdare, Leeds, Tweedside, Scarborough, Team Valley, Norton, Yorkshire, Portsmouth, Shiregreen, South Teeside, Bedlington, Enfield and Nantwich.

Following the collapse of the co-operative customers withdrew their business, leaving them with no milk to deliver.

Capital Dairy Company Ltd bought the depots in Newark, Skegness, Spalding and Hillsborough, and the site in Cheshunt was sold to Braeforge.

David Kelly, joint receiver and manager and director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: "After the failure of the rescue bid for Blaydon dairy on Friday we have focused on trying to secure a future for the employees in the depots.

"Work throughout the weekend and yesterday saw two deals across the line with Capital Dairies and Braeforge Limited which have preserved employment for the staff at five of them."