Caravan & Motorhome maker (Swift UK) announces up to 175 job losses (10 Viewers)

[Bobbejaan]

East Yorkshire caravan maker announces up to 175 job losses

Swift said the redundancies were due to a "challenging and difficult trading period" for the sector.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Captain Yoghurtpot]

Very sad news for the industry, and Swift, but moreso for the possibly 175 people who will need to find employment in an area of England that is not neccisarily awash with employment opportunities of a similar manufacturing nature.

 

[Minxy]

They're just down the road from me and have a massive site, I have a suspicion that they likely have some plans to sell some of the site for housing as it would have quite a bit of value and the likelihood is that they'd get permission as it would be a brown field site. There have been some new developments a little way down from them on the opposite side of the road.

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[Jon Stewart]

They're just down the road from me and have a massive site, I have a suspicion that they likely have some plans to sell some of the site for housing as it would have quite a bit of value and the likelihood is that they'd get permission as it would be a brown field site. There have been some new developments a little way down from them on the opposite side of the road.

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How long will the money from the sale of land subsidise the poor build quality.

Was recently in a caravan dealer and, while in multiple vans, totally unimpressed with build and finish.

 

[jongood]

East Yorkshire caravan maker announces up to 175 job losses

Swift said the redundancies were due to a "challenging and difficult trading period" for the sector.

www.bbc.co.uk

There seems to be an expectation that we re in for tough times again, we re almost talking ourselves into it.

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[Happy Jack]

Just come back from Hull area.
Passed Maple leisure a few times and their hard was awash with new campervan and I think they had caravans as well.
Too expensive couples with hard times for most ordinary folk.?
Happy Jack.

 

[Northernraider]

Well they've been cutting costs on quality for years if not decades so whilst I feel sorry for the employees the brand is piss poor.

 

[The Wino]

Wonder which of the things they produce are seeing the biggest downturn. There's another couple of static caravan manufacturers that have already had redundancies.

 

[The Wino]

There seems to be an expectation that we re in for tough times again, we re almost talking ourselves into it.

I think you're right about talking ourselves into it I'm not convinced there really is a cost of living crisis for most people

 

[jongood]

I think you're right about talking ourselves into it I'm not convinced there really is a cost of living crisis for most people

It would be better if Starmer was a bit more positive, or if he can't be positive then a 'we will pull through together' narrative might be less unsettling.

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[The Wino]

It would be better if Starmer was a bit more positive, or if he can't be positive then a 'we will pull through together' narrative might be less unsettling.

I'd sooner he was honest than tried that sort of bluster we had all that with Boris. The we all need to pull together was just an excuse to avoid questions and silence criticism

 

[Puddleduck]

It would be better if Starmer was a bit more positive, or if he can't be positive then a 'we will pull through together' narrative might be less unsettling.

But he needs to blame the previous govt for everything. He's running out of envelopes though.*

*Starting a new job John found 3 envelopes in his desk drawer marked " get out of trouble 1,2and 3. Open when needed." As it always will things went pear shaped and he opened envelope 1. It said "blame me". A few weeks later and another serious issue arose so envelope 2 was opened "you are pushing it but blame me again". John then needed to open the third envelope and the advice was "prepare 3 envelopes".......

 

[Roger S]

Its a shame Swift are finding it a "challenging and difficult trading period", with the two new Swift vans we bought I found both of them "challening and difficult" to own so perhaps karma is present

 

[Steve and Denise]

They should have looked after their customers better I have no sympathy all staff are responsible for a product.

 

[Dutch 68]

Wouldn’t surprise me if they would fold all together, so better start class actions now

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[Folkranger]

Used to be reasonable quality. All I seem to see now are Baileys.

 

[Rudski01]

I had two twin axle tourers back in the day, first one for twelve months, then made the error of ordering new at the show, what an absolute bag of nails, they wouldn’t pick it up from my house to take for all the warranty work so traped back to the dealers.
After picking it back up, noticed the side had been partially re sprayed, they denied all knowledge of it, took months to get an answer of what had been done, traded it 6 months later for a vanmaster,

They were obstructing, sometimes rude and complete liars, their aftersales not interested in the slightest.

 

[jockaneezer]

Used to be reasonable quality. All I seem to see now are Baileys.

My neighbour's twin axle Bailey is a pile of crap too. On his way through Hawick last year, there was an ambulance parked awkwardly on a call and he had to mount the kerb to get past. Later that day, he went to get something from a front overhead locker and it was full of water. Driving up the kerb was enough to crack the top of the front section of the van which is a one piece vacuum formed (?) piece of thin plastic. A quick visit to the Bailey Owner's Club website and he found he wasn't alone !
When we stripped out the interior, you could see how shoddy the build was. I've seen thicker and stronger pieces of wood used as the sticks on bottle rockets !
The window reveals on the front moulding were stretched that thin, they were translucent !
He had a mobile caravan repairer come out to it who reinforced the area with glass fibre (did the other side too just in case) and replaced the water stained wall boards too.
All in all, it's a piss poor build, even though they made a big play of "No water ingress due to the SoLid construction"

 

[ontheroadagain]

No water ingress due to the SoLid construction

I thought SoLid was Elddis?

 

[Langtoftlad]

When we stripped out the interior, you could see how shoddy the build was. I've seen thicker and stronger pieces of wood used as the sticks on bottle rockets !
The window reveals on the front moulding were stretched that thin, they were translucent !

So no longer this strong?

Wonder how long ago that was?

Remember they also made a big thing about being the only manufacturer to do actual crash testing.

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[Larrynwin]

Others may well find it necessary to follow Swift and tighten their belts, immediately following covid leisure vehicle sales were good but following a high there will no doubt be a drop in sales now that holidays abroad are back to normal.

 

[jockaneezer]

I thought SoLid was Elddis?

Yep, you're right, Bailey are Alu-Tec it seems, a similar "no wood" construction. Brain fart on my part !

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

They were obstructing, sometimes rude and complete liars, their aftersales not interested in the slightest.

You have just described about 95% of motorhome manufacturers/dealers Mark

 

[jockaneezer]

So no longer this strong?

Wonder how long ago that was?

Remember they also made a big thing about being the only manufacturer to do actual crash testing.

It's got blacked out windows so you can't see the four Acro Props inside, but you can see the extra wooden supports for them under the front !

 

[Folkranger]

Yep, you're right, Bailey are Alu-Tec it seems, a similar "no wood" construction. Brain fart on my part !

My daughter's Elldis was SoLid but it still had square wooden corners covered by curved grp which cracked on all corners due to the stress of being wrapped around the square wood.

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[jongood]

Yep, you're right, Bailey are Alu-Tec it seems, a similar "no wood" construction. Brain fart on my part !

Asfaik they both still have structural timber.

 

[DT]

Swift are the first other manufacturers will follow. Our new leader will not help.

 

[The Wino]

Swift are the first other manufacturers will follow. Our new leader will not help.

If you look it up two other manufacturers have already made redundant a lot of staff under the previous leader! It's just the end of the staycation boom I think

 

[Pausim]

At least one Continental manufacturer is looking to expand production at their new factory by 30% this year. They are certainly not undercutting UK manufacturers on price but they do have a reputation for good quality. When people are spending their children’s inheritance they seem prepared to spend a bit more for quality and appear to be avoiding purchases with poorer reputations.

 

[jongood]

I'd sooner he was honest than tried that sort of bluster we had all that with Boris. The we all need to pull together was just an excuse to avoid questions and silence criticism

Imho People tend to better with a bit of inspiration. Yes Boris had his faults but Starmer is just irritating.

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