Hundreds of jobs axed at Wellingborough House of Fraser logistics site

A mix of agency and permanent staff are said to be among those who will be made redundant when the XPO logistics site closes in April.

Workers at the XPO House of Fraser National Distribution Centre on the Park Farm Industrial Estate have been told that the site will close in spring after months of uncertainty.

When House of Fraser entered administration last August, it was said to owe its logistics provider XPO £30m. The troubled department store firm was bought immediately by Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley with no obligation on him to pay the firm’s debts.

XPO stopped processing orders until the outstanding bill was paid - and there was a standoff that meant all online orders were cancelled. The situation meant that 627 workers in Wellingborough and Milton Keynes were put at formal risk of redundancy. Eventually the Wellingborough site reopened, but its sister site in Milton Keynes closed in the Autumn.

Now, workers in Wellingborough have also learned they too are to lose their jobs.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “We’ve been under a cloud for a long time now but we’ve been working hard even though nobody knew what was going to happen.

”The timing is sickening as Brexit is probably not going to make it easy for us to get other jobs.

”It’s just a big kick in the teeth.”

XPO declined to confirm the details, but a spokeswoman said: “We’re proud of our people who remained committed during this period of change and we’ll work to support them.”

Some workers at the site are represented by the GMB Union which has previously said it would be ‘fighting hard to ensure members are treated fairly and to save as many jobs as possible’.