Employees at House of Fraser’s distribution centre in Wellingborough have downed their tools over a dispute with new owner Sports Direct.
According to The Times workers have been ordered to stop accepting goods and processing deliveries by the site operator XPO Logistics due to a dispute over delivery payment terms.
It is understood that XPO Logistics have called for Mike Ashley’s company to honour the contract terms it held with its previous owner.
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The firm could currently be owed tens of millions of pounds, but under the pre-pack administration deal in which House of Fraser was acquired, the purchases are able to discard existing pension liabilities and creditor claims.
Meanwhile its chairman Frank Slevin has departed from his role, Drapers reports.
It is understood that the rest of the department store’s senior team including chief executive Alex Williamson remain in place.
Ashley, who purchased the department store out of administration for £90 million last week, has pledged to keep “as many stores open as possible” but stopped short of clarifying how the takeover deal by his firm, Sports Direct, would affect House of Fraser’s 59 shops and 16,000-plus staff.
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