Jobs losses at Lanarkshire firm

KPMG have been appointed as administrators

A Lanarkshire-based haulage and distribution company has gone into administration with the loss of 350 jobs, it has emerged.

Ramage Distribution provides storage, transport and ancillary services.

The company has headquarters in Glespin, South Lanarkshire and it has other premises in Aberdeen, Halbeath in Fife and England.

The administrators, KPMG, pointed to difficult trading conditions including the rising cost of fuel.

They said the market was already competitive and revealed the company had difficulties integrating the operations of haulage firm UFD Group, which it acquired in July last year.

Fuel prices

A total of 136 will go at the head office in Glespin, 32 at a depot in Aberdeen and one in Glenrothes.

Thirty-six will also go in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, and 19 in Bristol.

The company also has a depot in Wigan and one in Halbeath.

Blair Nimmo, of KPMG in Scotland, said: "It is with regret that we have had to make substantial redundancies across Ramage Distribution's operations and we are working with government agencies to ensure the employees' issues are dealt with as best as possible. "

Ramage Distribution has an annual turnover of £30m and employs approximately 390 people. Phil Flanders, from the Road Haulage Association, told BBC Radio Scotland that the whole industry was under pressure.

He added: "Hauliers have got to charge the going rate, they've got to get the rates up because if they don't there'll be more going into liquidation.

"At the moment, with the fuel prices continually rising it's difficult for hauliers to keep up and pass on those increases to the customers."