NINETEEN Swindon drivers at Oak Furniture Land will lose out as a result of a redistribution of staff at the firm, with roles being moved to branches in Cambridgeshire and Essex.

Staff at the firm’s Viscount Way headquarters in South Marston were informed of the decision on Fridayas a four-week consultation period began.

There are currently 39 drivers operating out of the national retailer’s Swindon site and this number will drop to 20 after the identity of those losing their jobs is decided.

The depots in Cambs and Essex are expanding to meet higher demand in those respective areas of the country and rather than create higher staffing costs, the group is moving the jobs away from Swindon.

Nothing has yet been revealed on the chances of a redundancy package being offered to the drivers, but help is being offered to establish whether they can be redeployed in other areas of the business or seek employment elsewhere in Swindon as delivery drivers.

A spokeswoman for Oak Furniture Land said: “It’s a big site in Swindon, we are completely and utterly committed to the site and there are no other redundancies occurring anywhere else in the business. We have not considered a recruitment ban, but we will be mindful of using those at risk for any other vacancies elsewhere in the business.”