DHL to cut 2,200 jobs

DHL will axe 2,200 staff working on a contract for Jaguar Land Rover, highlighting intense pressures on the car sector and raising fears of more redundancies at Britain's biggest the car maker.

The logistics company has told its staff that 40pc of them working at JLR factories and delivering parts to car plants are likely to lose their jobs because of a combination of the slump in demand for vehicles and ongoing efficiency measures.

The bulk of the positions involve delivering parts to plants and production lines and are a mixture of full-time and agency roles, with a further 200 in back-office roles.

Last month JLR itself announced it was cutting 1,100 agency staff because of the plunge in demand for cars.

Production from all UK car plants has collapsed in recent months because of coronavirus and lockdowns, falling 95pc in May and 99pc in April.

Sales of new vehicles have also been ravaged, declining by 34.9pc in June, though this was better than the previous three months.

Matt Draper of Unite called the cuts a “massive, bitter blow on the eve the Chancellor's speech which is expected to set out plans to kick-start the economy”.

He added: “While DHL is the employer, the reality is that the workers perform their roles for JLR. It has a moral duty to ensure that workers are treated fairly and decently.”

A DHL spokesman said the cuts came because of the "unprecedented impact of coronavirus” and were “in line with future volume forecasts and form part of the optimisation and efficiency initiatives that have been driven by both organisations in recent months”.

A spokesman for JLR added: “ DHL informed us that they were going into consultation with some of their workforce last month. Through its ongoing transformation programme and against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, JLR is taking action to optimise performance and achieve further operational efficiencies to enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business.”