Hundreds of milk jobs go in Blaydon dairy closure

Jun 13 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

ALMOST 300 people are to lose their jobs after the collapse of a last-ditch effort to save a North East dairy.

A team of managers from Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFB), in Blaydon, had been holding urgent talks with receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in a bid to buy the site.

But the negotiations fell apart yesterday afternoon and the dairy will shut over the weekend.

The majority of the 290 staff were made redundant yesterday. A small team of staff will remain to help close the site, which received milk from 288 farmers in the region.

PWC is continuing negotiations to sell the dairy’s North East depots, which employ 329 people.

Stephen Oldfield, joint receiver and DFB manager, said last night: “The [milk] liquids business has suffered continuing losses and recent withdrawal of customers has compounded the problem.

“There were urgent attempts today to secure a rescue deal for Blaydon with support from One North East and Defra, but the deal collapsed at lunchtime today when the buyer withdrew.

“This has forced the decision to close the last dairy in the DFB liquids division at Blaydon with effect from this evening. Closure will avoid further losses being paid for out of farmers’ milk cheques.”

DFB went into receivership on June 3, owing £20m in unpaid milk cheques to its co-operative members.

But hopes were high yesterday morning that a deal could be struck to keep the site open.