COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Arlington Automotive has appointed adminstrators with 600 jobs at risk as the economic impact of coronavirus continues to hit.

The company employs about 600 people across sites in Coventry, Newton Aycliffe, Reading, Stourport, Birmingham and Manchester.

Arlington's Derby site has already commenced closure.

It counts Jaguar Land Rover, Ford and Nissan among its customers base.

Joint administrator Allan Graham of Duff & Phelps said: “The financial issues faced by the Group have been compounded by coronavirus. New car registrations have fallen dramatically and the complexity of supply chains in the sector have led to a sudden halt to manufacturing.”

Arlington Automotive Group workers miss out on redundancy deal



Employees at a car parts plant say they will lose thousands from their redundancy deal after the firm went into administration.

Martin Hindle, 54, worked at Arlington Automotive Group for 30 years and was promised £74,000 in a redundancy deal. He now estimates he will get £14,000.

The firm previously agreed a £1m package for workers, most of whom are disabled.

The group said it was working with staff to help them sort settlements.

After 31 years working in Coventry, Jonathan Peasley, who has severe epilepsy, has also been made redundant.

"Suddenly being jobless is hard to take," he said. "It was part of my life, I was used to the routine."

Arlington Automotive Group employs about 600 people at sites in Coventry, Newton Aycliffe, Reading, Stourport, Birmingham, Derby and Manchester.

Its West Midlands sites mainly employ disabled workers after it took over Remploy factories following the loss of government funding in 2013.

Mr Hindle, who worked at the Birmingham site, said many of the firm's disabled employees "will never work again".

"They were planning the rest of their lives based on this redundancy money and now they can't afford it."

Birmingham's site manager Adam McKeown said he is "absolutely furious".

"I'm so disappointed in the company that promised to maintain the ethos of Remploy," he said.

"The majority of employees will now be reliant on benefits for the rest of their lives and the company doesn't care."

Rescue deal sees 200 jobs saved at Coventry Jaguar Land Rover supplier



Around 200 jobs have been saved at a Coventry car parts manufacturer which counts Jaguar Land Rover among its customers.

Arlington Automotive Group fell into administration in May last year, with administrators from Duff & Phelps appointed to its UK trading companies.

At least 60 disabled workers will be offered their jobs back thanks to a rescue deal by Evtec Automotive.

As part of the deal, for an undisclosed eight figure sum, the new Evtec Automotive plant on Torrington Avenue will continue to make car parts for many of the major players in the UK automotive sector, with a strong focus on supporting the fast growing electric vehicle (EV) sector.

The automotive firm, which specialises in products such as bespoke thermostats for vehicles and the manufacture and assembly of engineered vehicle systems, has long employed disabled workers.

Originally it was part of Remploy, a scheme formerly sponsored by the Department of Work and Pensions to provide ongoing sustainable employment for disabled people.

Evtec chairman David Roberts has been revealed as the man behind the acquisition, which was completed this week.

Mr Roberts has a long history with the Coventry plant, having acquired it from Remploy back in 2013, as the government scheme disbanded.

It was then renamed Rempower and became a part of the Arlington Industries Group, which went into administration due to the coronavirus pandemic hitting car sales and manufacturing supply chains.

Mr Roberts left Arlington in 2015 due to family reasons, and was approached in 2020 by regional car manufacturers to buy the plant out of administration and form the new company Evtec Automotive Ltd.