THE Scarborough depot of Parcelforce Worldwide is to close with the loss of 24 jobs as part of a massive re-structuring by parent company Consignia.

The Parcelforce depot at Poppleton, York, has been spared the axe and will take on some of Scarborough's work.

After a weekend of speculation, Consignia chairman Allan Leighton announced a long-term strategy for the troubled business that will save hundreds of millions of pounds.

He said Consignia was in a "perilous" position, losing more than £1.5 million every day.

Parcelforce's 11,700 staff will be reduced by about 6,700, over and above natural turnover.

A total of 15,000 jobs are to go across the whole company - 13,000 through redeployment or redundancy.

Under the changes, Consignia's various air, road and rail transport operations will be rationalised to create a more efficient single network.

More mail will be moved by train, but this will be mainly bulk mail carried during the day, and mail will no longer be sorted on trains.

Media reports had suggested that Consignia would make an embarrassing U-turn by changing its name back to Royal Mail, but this was not mentioned in today's announcement.

From July, Parcelforce Worldwide will concentrate solely on the growing market for next-day and two-day express deliveries while abandoning its unprofitable three-day plus deliveries.

Mr Leighton described the package as "the sort of common sense re-engineering which customers and Consignia need."

He added: "We need to renew our operations and halt the financial losses which put key services at risk.

"Both measures announced today are far-reaching, but they are just the start, not the end. They will ensure that real progress is made in the first year of a three-year strategy to restore profitability, deliver positive cash flow, improve services and make the business a better place in which to work."

Consignia chief executive John Roberts said a series of face-to-face meetings were being held today with people whose jobs were directly affected.

"We are determined to offer as many of them as possible a genuine option to stay with the business, or to take a voluntary package."

Consignia revealed that Parcelforce Worldwide, which delivers 150 million parcels every year, had amassed losses close to £400 million since 1991.

Updated: 11:35 Monday, March 25, 2002