Safestyle In Administration – Industry Comment Reserved And Enraged

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With Safestyle entering administration on 30 October, the GGF’s MD John Agnew and the chairman of the National Federation of Glaziers have both had their say – Agnew reserved; Anthony C Jones enraged.  

Agnew said: “The Glass & Glazing Federation regrets the loss of any company operating in the sector and especially one that occupies such a prominent position.

“Safestyle is headquartered in Bradford, with manufacturing operations in Wombwell, West Yorkshire and 42 branches and depots throughout the UK. This is especially bad news for the employees of the company, of whom we believe 680 have lost their jobs immediately, with around 70 retained to assist with the winding down of the company.

“Whilst the circumstances that have caused the failure of Safestyle will be specific and unique to that company, many companies operating in this sector are facing difficulties due to a downturn in business caused by economic circumstances that are placing huge pressures upon many of our members across the industry.”

Insurance Backed Guarantees

“Safestyle was one of the largest members of the GGF, FENSA and also a significant customer of Installsure, the GGF’s provider of Insurance Backed Guarantee policies. I can confirm that Installsure will handle all claims for which there is an IBG policy in place. Installsure will act quickly to assess and respond to these claims.”

Yet again

"Yet again! Safestyle. It is not surprising, is it?” said the National Federation of Glaziers’ Jones.

“I feel deeply sorry for the employees and creditors who are going to lose out. The sub-contractors and suppliers who, yet again, trusted the owners of this business and are now unlikely to be paid for the work and services they provided.

“Why did it happen? Under-pricing and aggressive high-pressure selling with bogus discounts play a large part. I have personally met ordinary people who just wanted to improve their properties who were very upset at the sales tactics Safestyle used.

“There are so many important issues that this exposes that those of us who really care about the glazing industry need to speak out about. We should not make excuses about hard times and difficult trading conditions.

“Mine and many other good businesses have lived through tough times with honest trading practices – why should big companies be any different?”

Picture: The GGF’s John Agnew.

www.ggf.org.uk

www.nfoglon.org.uk

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
02nd November 2023

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