School travel firm makes a quarter of its Lancashire staff redundant

PGL Travel, which offers trips to residential activity centres across the UK, said the lockdown and subsequent restrictions meant school trips were cancelled, leaving it with no choice but to shed jobs.

It said it will cut 670 jobs across the country from its headquarters in Ross-on-Wye, through its Blackpool and Hertfordshire offices to its operational sites, including Winmarleigh Hall, near Cabus.

A company spokesman said: “The COVID-19 pandemic and the on-going travel restrictions have had an unprecedented impact on the educational travel sector and NST. In this context, we have finalised a redundancy consultation process and it is with great regret that we advise the loss of 42 jobs, around 25 per cent of our Blackpool-based workforce.

"We have taken this step to ensure that we can continue to provide life-changing school trips in the future, once travel restrictions are lifted. The passion and commitment of our team has always been a key part of providing memorable experiences for schools and we are sorry that it has been necessary to take this step. We would like to thank our colleagues for their patience and understanding at this difficult time.”

The company, named after the firm's founder Peter Gordon Lawrence, said 34 staff at its Ross-on-Wye head office had been made redundant.

The spokesman added: “As we conclude a further consultation process, a further 636 colleagues have been made redundant across the PGL Group, representing a 25 per cent reduction in our total workforce.”

In its last published accounts, PGL Travel saw pre-tax profits of £35m and turnover of £133m.