A major UK delivery firm says it is ‘ceasing trading without notice’ and has had an impact on Evri, which used the now-collapsed business as a courier partner in some places
Brits have been hit by weeks-long delays to parcel deliveries following the collapse of a major courier firm.
Pedal and Post says it is “ceasing trading without notice”, and this has had a knock on effect on Evri. Evri used Pedal and Post to deliver in Oxford’s Clean Air Zone, meaning residents in the city are now facing disruption and delays to their deliveries.
Carol Leonard, who lives in Grandpont, Oxford, said several of her parcels – ordered in late January – had not been delivered. They contained special food for her cat as well as litter, and though they were sent out for delivery, remained sitting at the depot.
They were eventually delivered on February 10 – two weeks after her orders were placed. An Evri spokesperson said: “We successfully deliver more than 900 million parcels each year, with industry-leading on-time delivery rates.
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“We were disappointed to learn that our e-cargo bike delivery partner in Oxford ceased trading without notice, which caused some temporary disruption for a small number of customers in the local area.
“We have quickly re-organised deliveries in the area, and our local team are working hard to resume normal service. We have spoken to Carol to apologise for her experience and are pleased to confirm her parcel has been delivered this afternoon.”
Pedal and Post said the decision followed the loss of a major client earlier this year. Both its Oxford and London sites have now closed. CEO Christopher Benton confirmed that the company’s entire workforce of around 60 – a mix of self-employed and employed – has been made redundant, BirminghamLive reports.
“Trying to be an ethical employer in a primarily self-employed industry is difficult,” Benton told Zag Daily. “Lower operating costs of cargo bikes really helped enable this to be able to pay better.”
“Our closure isn’t a reflection on cargo bike use or logistics. With simple, small businesses that are reliant on five to six major clients, it happens sometimes that you lose one and can’t sustain moving forward.”
Benton declined to name the client involved, stating that they had “met their contractual terms”. He added that no financial details could be disclosed at this stage, as there was still “a lot to go through with liquidators”.
