Local dairy turmoil as milk haulier goes into administration

The local dairy industry is reeling from the news that one of the UK’s largest milk hauliers, Lloyd Fraser, has gone into administration, with staff at its Four Crosses depot now facing an uncertain future.

News started to trickle through on Friday from stunned employees who were told that the company’s operating licence had also been revoked.

The firm is responsible for picking up millions of litres of milk from local dairy farms every single day, with Muller alone said to receive around 1.2m litres.

Lloyd Fraser is owned by Irish venture capitalist company Barbican Capital and the company, which has its headquarters in Rugby, Warwickshire, employs around 500 people. It is not known how many work at their Four Crosses.

Chris Walkland, a dairy industry analyst, told Farmers Weekly: “Significant quantities of milk are likely to be lost today and over the weekend if those tankers cannot be released for active use.

“We could be talking about many millions of litres of milk being affected.”

Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams and MS Russell George issued a joint statement that they were working with the main dairy companies who had confirmed that contingency plans were being put into place to resume milk collections.

Mr Williams MP said: “The news that Lloyd Fraser has gone into administration is extremely sad. I will be working with partners to support the firm, and especially staff from Four Crosses who are directly affected.

“Although the situation is at a very early stage, Russell and I have been liaising closely with both Muller and Arla this morning. They assure me that contingency plans are already in place to ensure collections will still take place over the weekend, and that all of their milk producers will be paid.

“We will continue to work closely with the farming unions and affected companies over the coming days and weeks.”

The NFU's dairy board chairman, Michael Oakes, said the union was aware of difficulties with milk collections across a number of regions.

He told the BBC: “We are working with others in the dairy supply chain to determine the extent of the impact on our members.

“As new collection plans are put in place, we would urge dairy producers who are affected to contact their milk buyer as soon as possible.”

We have contacted Lloyd Fraser for comment.