A CHEPSTOW warehouse is due to close next month putting around 40 jobs at risk.

Home delivery company Arrow XL told staff and agency workers at their morning meeting last week that they would be closing the unit on February 11.

The two-man delivery and collection service had relocated to Chepstow in April of last year following a serious fire at the firm’s main warehouse in Worcester.

Since then both Arrow XL and agency staff, employed by Sterling Recruitments, have worked at the 151,500sq ft warehouse in the Newhouse Farm Industrial Estate.

Some Arrow XL staff will now be relocated to the firm’s new hub at Droitwich Spa but agency staff have been told to find new jobs.

One agency worker, from Chepstow, said that staff were notified of the redundancies at a meeting at 6am on Friday.

“We were read out a pre-written statement which didn’t go down well at all as you can imagine,” he added.

“There’s around 40 of us who will now be looking for jobs over the next four weeks.

The employee, who has asked not to be named, said that people local to Chepstow, wider Monmouthshire and Newport would be among those that would lose their job.

Another warehouse worker, from Raglan, described the news as “deflating” as staff had been “working hard for months”.

He added: “The fact they turned up with a pre-written statement, it just seemed that it wasn’t from the heart. They then expect us to give 100 per cent for the next four weeks.

“I’m still quite young but there’s a lot of older people here who live pay check to pay check, with rent or mortgage to pay. I feel more for them than for me.”

A spokesman for Arrow XL said: “Due to increased operational efficiency and capacity at our recently opened hub in Droitwich Spa, we will be closing our temporary premises in Chepstow at the end of February.

“The small number of permanent roles that are affected by this move will be relocated back to our facility in Droitwich.”

Clive Sturgess, managing director of Sterling Recruitments, had sympathy for those now looking for jobs.

He added: “The majority of people I have spoken to are very unhappy but have been sensible about it all with regards to finding new jobs

“As a company we're also unhappy as we've also lost a contract there having put a lot of money into it, but that's business.”