Transport company TCR Group in Middelburg of the Hage family was declared bankrupt by the court on Monday at the request of the administrators. The company had been in financial trouble for some time. On January 31, last year, the court granted an extension of payment. According to curators Folkert Hiemstra and Jan de Meester (Van Boven Advocaten, Middelburg), everything is being done to ensure that the vans for student transport and Wmo transport can continue to drive as much as possible.
Negotiator Tjeerd Orie of CNV Vaknemers speaks of a worrying scenario.
“With the bankruptcy of all BVs, all 1.300 employees, from Zeeland to the Wadden Islands, are sucked into the uncertainty surrounding TCR. And of course this affects all customers who really depend on transport: students, disabled, elderly. We would have preferred the administrators to come up with a more positive scenario today. ”
Several municipalities have announced that the transport has been arranged for Tuesday and that the vans simply drive. “We are very aware of the social importance of transporting pupils and vulnerable groups. We are doing our best to ensure that this transport can continue, ”said curator Hiemstra in the daily newspaper PZC. The CNV union has understood that the administrators are holding talks with takeover candidates. In anticipation of this, according to the union, people will drive the next few weeks.
The bankrupt TCR Group employs 1.300 people. The company is active throughout the country in public transport (including subcontracting for Arriva and Connexxion), target group transport and coach transport. The unions will consult with TCR's central works council later this week. FNV and CNV point to the low rates that municipalities pay for target group transport as part of the problems in which TCR has ended up. The administrators are investigating whether a restart of TCR Group as a whole or in parts is possible.
TCR's bankruptcy is also hitting other major transportation companies, Orie says. “TCR is active as a subcontractor in many places in the country, for example for Connexxion in the Amstelland Meerlanden, IJsselmond, Zeeland and Noord-Holland Noord concessions. Of course we will also contact you if other carriers can take over employees. ”
“Margins in transport are very small under pressure from clients, who often want to be in the first rank for a dime. Actually too small to keep enough fat on the bones. Something only has to go wrong and you see what happens, ”said negotiator Orie.
Marjan Broer, director of the FNV, added: “The clients pay prices that really cannot be driven anymore. Municipalities, provinces and health insurers should think carefully about this and realize that it is no longer possible. ”
Also read: Suspension of payment Connexxion Tours tricky page in TCR file
