A NUMBER of workers have been made redundant at Toolstation's head office in Bridgwater.

Toolstation's parent company Travis Perkins announced in June that due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic outlook, there would be some job losses across the group.

Toolstation says that a 'small number' of employees have been made redundant, but refused to say how many workers had been let go.

Richard Lavin, Toolstation's finance, property and distribution director said: " We have done our best to retain colleagues where possible, although a small number of redundancies have been made locally to reflect the strategic direction of the business.

"Toolstation remains committed to the south-west. In fact, employment at our Bridgwater site is now higher than it was before the Covid-19 lockdown began.

"Changes to our business model, with increased Click & Collect and delivery services, have allowed us to hire additional colleagues in the distribution centre, for example."

Toolstation says it is pressing on with its ambition to open 60 new branches in the UK this year, creating 420 jobs.

Mr Lavin added: "Our most recent trading update on July 28 reports like-for-like sales growth of 16.5 per cent at Toolstation in Q2 2020, so we remain positive about the outlook for the business."