Jobs lost as doors close at Unipart Automotive

Unipart Automotive, one of the UK’s biggest car parts suppliers, has gone into administration with the loss of 1200 jobs.

Based in Solihull, the company, which traded for several years as Partco, says it had been suffering years of financial stress.

Despite intensive efforts over the past few months, a buyer could not be found. In total, 33 out of 180 branches have been sold to rival companies, including Andrew Page and the Parts Alliance.

The Unipart Automotive distribution arm was sold by the Unipart Group in 2011, and was an entirely separate company.