Drivers caught out by fast food flop
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Nearly 400 drivers are hurting after giving up work for a promised contact only to find themselves high and dry. Dominic Perry reports.
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WINCANTONS FAILED bid to win work from the restaurant chain McDonalds has left hundreds of drivers out of pocket. Wincanton had attempted to win the lucrative contract from Golden West, which was in the process of being sold by parent company, RHM. To prepare for this.in January this year Wincanton asked the agency ADR to recruit almost 400 drivers by February.
But the start of the contract was repeatedly delayed: eventually drivers were told that it had been put into a "maintenance phase" with a notification period of two weeks prior to the revised start date.
The drivers were offered a retainer of 50% of the basic day rate, provided that they completed the first eight weeks' work once the contract started.
But now the logistics company has pulled the plug following US firm Keystone Distribution's acquisition of Golden West and its retention of the McDonalds' contract. The drivers have been left without a penny. ADR says they are not owed a retainer as the contract never went ahead.
One driver recruited by ADR says: "February is a quiet time of year and [at the time] it was hard to pick up anything else. But I've since turned away other work [to keep this]."
ADR MD Emma Guyton says: "To a certain extent this is an unfortunate natural consequence of a review of logistics operations that did not bear fruit."
Keystone already handles the distribution for McDonalds in the UK, the US and on the Continent. Its website boasts that 3,000 restaurants worldwide rely on its deliveries.
Wincanton was unavailable for comment as CM went to press. dominic.perry@rbi.co.uk