City Link (company)
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Courier |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Headquarters | Camberley, UK |
Key people | Petar Cvetkovic MD, Colin Tyler FD |
| Products | Freight Forwarding Services Logistics Services |
| Revenue | £417.1 million GBP (2007) |
| Website | www.city-link.co.uk |
City Link is a British next day courier company based in Camberley, Surrey, United Kingdom. City Link operates services in the UK including the Isle of Man from its hubs in Coventry, West Midlands and Darlaston. The company is a part of the Rentokil Initial Group.
History
City Link was founded in 1969; and, in 1971, Robert J. (Bob) Thomas purchased a controlling interest in the company.
The business is steeped in British history, and was born out of the UK railway system where it utilised the once booming Red Star Parcels Rail service to transport goods door-to-door faster than any other courier company. It pioneered the introduction of same-day and next-morning door-to-door delivery services nationwide.
In the early 1970's City Link franchised the service, the first to do so in the industry. They quickly evolved and expanded due to a policy of continuous innovations and led the way in providing door-to-door delivery services.
City Link was the first courier to use British Airways’ Concorde to offer an express parcel "same day" service to New York. With the time difference between London and the Eastern Seaboard, the packages famously arrived before they had left!
In 1993 the company was acquired by the Rentokil Initial group, and its name changed to Initial City Link.
On the 20th November 2005 Initial City Link announced that as a part of its expansion programme, they were to ‘buy back’ the franchises. This was completed in March 2007 with the purchase of Tiger Haulage Ltd – City Link's Beds, Herts and Bucks franchise.
Exactly one year after Initial City Link announced its buy back scheme, Initial City Link finished negotiations with the shareholders of Target Express Ltd to purchase Target Express on 20th November 2006. Target was officially acquired and taken over by Initial City Link on 1st March 2007.
In late 2006 City Link's head office moved from Sunbury on Thames to Camberley in Surrey.
As a part of its merger with Target Express – City Link was planning to close 42 of the 110 combined branches in the first half of 2008 to provide a single integrated network. However at the end of February 2008 Petar Cvetkovic stated City Link have suspended further integration of Target Express depots until January 2009.
The company has now reverted to its original name – City Link.
Profession
Nobody knows exactly what City Link do, but parcel delivery doesn't seem to be anything more than a vicious rumour as there is no record of them every actually delivering anything (at least not in one piece). It has been suggested that thay may be involved in the premium rate telephone business, but seeing as their own automated telephone system is so ineffective, this too seems unlikely. The only remaining possiblilty is that they are a means of injecting liquidiy into the insurence market by selling policies and generating claims whilst keeping sociopaths unsuitable for HMP Broadmoor out of trouble by giving then silly green and yellow vans to drive.
External links
- City Link webpage