The story below is from 2011. In 2014 it attracted quite few hits on the blog.
In actual fact, apart from the original announcement, there appears to have been no further press information on this subject. Indeed, Autoglass’s own website doesn’t even mention the original press release – it seems to have been removed, and history altered.
If anyone from Autoglass has any information, please let me know.
Autoglass has just announced (June 2011) it is getting rid of 400 jobs.
I must confess to being sceptical about the reasons given by the owners. Apparently, it is because people are driving more carefully due to the rising price of fuel!!!
Hard to prove… but just as hard to disprove, I guess. But one thing I do know: it doesn’t tie in with what I’m seeing. In any case, it’s bit of a wishy-washy reason for something that could destroy someone’s life.
(This story has been edited due to an inaccuracy on my part in the original)
EDIT 17/6/2011: I’ve also found this link to Sky News covering the story. It doesn’t make the logic being used to justify the redundancies any more, er, logical.
Autoglass has a staff of around 3,000 according to that article, so 400 losses is well over 10% of the workforce.
In a statement, the firm said: “As a result of the exceptionally mild winter combined with the increased cost of fuel, which has caused a reduction in the number of miles driven, there has been less vehicle damage and the industry, as a whole, has seen lower demand this year.
Can someone just remind me what last winter was like? I can’t remember. Or rather, I seem to remember quite a different winter to the one they’re talking about here. It was officially the second coldest winter since 1985/86 in the UK as a whole, the second coldest in Scotland since 1978/79, and seventh equal coldest since records began in Northern Ireland, and the second coldest since 1995/96 in England and Wales. You can read all the other stats over at the Met Office website, but calling last winter “exceptionally mild” is laughable – particularly as a reason for putting 400 people out of work.
I wonder what Autoglass management will do when the weather gets cold again and people start driving faster once more? Sack even more people?