Unions fear hundreds of jobs are at risk after administrators were called into plant hire group Hewden, which has blamed uncertainty caused by Brexit for its financial predicament.

Accountants EY immediately made 251 of the 750-strong workforce redundant. Many of those who lost their jobs were crane operators.

Some 133 were transferred to Ashtead Plant Hire (A-Plant) which bought parts of the operation for £29m. The remainder are currently being kept on, in part to help service Hewden’s 40 plant hire depots across the UK.

“This is a sickening blow for workers in the run up to Christmas and is the result of a succession of venture capitalists hawking Hewden around the market over a number of years to make a quick buck,” said Unite national officer Bernard McAulay, who mainly represents crane operators at Hewden.

The Manchester-based heavy machinery rental firm was owned by private equity firm Sun Capital Partners and in October had warned about “market uncertainty following the vote to leave the EU” which had adversely affected a number of large construction and investment projects.

“We are currently in contact with the administrators over the transfer of workers to A-Plant, in addition to other crane operators and plant hire companies to try and find work for under threat Hewden workers,” said McAulay.



Some 15,000 pieces of equipment are estimated out be out on hire from the company, which supplied services to companies such as British Steel in Scunthorpe and the Grangemouth and Fawley refineries.

Sam Woodward, joint administrator at EY, said: “We are assessing the optimum strategy for maximising value in the remainder of the group. In the meantime, we will continue to work with stakeholders to maintain service levels to customers who have assets on hire.”

He said the management had been trying to find buyers or find fresh funding – it had £190m of debt – but failed to do so. “Management has been attempting to operationally reshape the business to focus on higher margin and quicker returning assets and services. However, this has proven challenging with the group’s capital structure and the recent trading environment,” said Woodward.

Hewden’s last set of accounts for the company were filed a year ago and cover the financial year to the end of December 2014, for which it reported a £16.6m loss. The company appears to operate two pension schemes – into which it said it intended to contribute £2.9m during the coming financial year.



“Unite will also be working closely with the administrators to ensure workers aren’t short-changed out of their pensions and that a future for the company’s workers can be secured,” said McAulay.

The Pension Protection Fund – which looks after members of final salary pension schemes of companies that fail – said: “We are aware of the situation and members of the company’s defined benefit schemes can be reassured that the PPF is there to protect them if their company fails.”