Job losses as Cazoo closes Norton depot

One hundred people are losing their jobs with the closure of a business depot in Norton.

Online car retailer Cazoo announced the closure decision just months after taking over the Church Lane site when it bought SMH Fleet Solutions, which was based there, for £70 million.

A Cazoo spokesperson said: “Unfortunately we plan to close this site as part of our revised business plan in the current economic climate.

“We no longer currently require the capacity of all 10 vehicle preparation sites we have in the UK that we inherited when we acquired certain businesses, so have chosen to close two of them of which one is [Norton].

“Approximately 100 people will be impacted by this.”

The acquisition of the Norton site had been intended to help provide Cazoo with 11 reconditioning/storage sites nationally, enabling hundreds of thousands of cars to be delivered each year and tens of thousands stored.

At the time SMH Fleet Solutions was acquired Cazoo’s founder and chief executive Alex Chesterman said he looked forward to welcoming the SMH team to Cazoo.

SMH Fleet Solutions, set up in 2003, supplied its services to car manufacturers, contract hire and leasing companies, motor dealers and major fleet operators.