10:46 am, October 20, 2022
Perrys is to shut its Ford dealership in High Wycombe at the end of the month with half of the workforce losing their jobs.
It confirmed reports on local social media by replying to a customer’s query on its own Facebook page to say it will be closing on October 31.
The Buckinghamshire showroom, which Perrys bought in 2004, also covers Amersham, Watford, Beaconsfield, Maidenhead, Reading and London.
The move, which will see the London Road site sold off, is part of the Blue Oval’s wider plans to reduce the number of its UK dealerships by almost half.
Perrys managing director Darren Ardron told Car Dealer: ‘Perrys have taken this decision jointly with Ford Motor Company as part of the network strategy to reduce the number of Ford dealerships across the UK.
‘We have successfully managed to retain half of the team of 30 by relocating them to our Aylesbury and Luton dealerships.’
The Bucks Free Press quoted Nick Beevis, regional director for Perrys Ford High Wycombe, as saying the decision to axe the High Wycombe branch had been ‘difficult’.
He added that extra courtesy drivers would allow it to give customers in the High Wycombe area more collect and drop-off services.
It was also now offering mobile servicing at customers’ homes or where they work.
A spokesperson for Ford Britain was quoted by the Bucks Free Press as saying that the manufacturer was now focusing more on CV sales as well as its all-electric vehicles.
‘The Perrys High Wycombe site is being sold, with continued servicing by Perrys in Aylesbury and three new mobile service vans bringing techs and equipment to the customer.
‘Nationally, there will continue to be a Ford sales site in easy travel distance for the majority of customers, with around 90 per cent of the population within a 30-minute drive of a dealership,’ the spokesperson added.
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