MPs claims Sayers 'plotted' to close stores and bakery

Jul 11 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

AROUND 270 staff who lost their jobs when Sayers axed its Liverpool bakery and 19 stores were victims of a secret three-year plot, MPs have claimed.

Furious Labour backbenchers outlined a series of damning allegations against the parent company of the iconic city firm, which suddenly went into administration last month.

Employment minister Pat McFadden agreed to meet MPs and trade union leaders “as a matter of urgency” to discuss their demand for an investigation.

The claims were last night denied, and described as “three years out of date” by company chairman Sandy Birnie.

The accusations follow the announcement that Sayer’s Norris Green bakery will close – with the loss of 211 jobs – as will 40 stores across the North West.

They were all run by the Sale-based Lyndale Group, which bought the 96-year-old bakers in 1996.

Last month, group chairman and chief executive, Sandy Birnie and Michael Quinlan, bought Sayers back from the administrators and will continue to run 60 stores in Merseyside, employing 500 people.