Statement by Chey Garland
The following statement was issued by Chey Garland on Monday, 24 January 2011 in response to the Inside Out Programme about the collapse of the Garlands Call Centre business.
"Garlands Call Centres was a business my employees and I built up over 13 years. In its heyday Garlands was immensely successful and provided employment to many thousands of people and boosted the economy in the North East. Sadly, in our last year, we lost a number of key contracts to call centres in South Africa, India, the Philippines and Egypt and as a result the business went into administration. I did everything I could to keep Garlands going. It is a matter of great regret to me that those efforts failed, but this was ultimately an effect of the market which saw our business move overseas. I was guided in the way in which the business was closed, including telling my employees, by our bank and the professional Adminstrators appointed to wind the company up."
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