Flood-hit business is back in the city

11:20am Friday 16th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A RECRUITMENT agency has moved back into its premises in Worcester city centre almost a year after it was devastated by last year's summer floods.

First Personnel's office in the Butts was so badly damaged by flood water the company was forced to split its staff up and move them to branches around the county in a bid to keep its business going.

Branch manager Dean Collett said the Worcester office at Virginia House was ruined following the dramatic downpour on Friday, July 20.

"We had swans floating past the window. It was unreal," he said. "Any paperwork not above knee height was absolutely ruined. All the furniture was ruined, as well as all the aesthetics. The whole place was just awful and it stank. It was not very nice. You wouldn't have let animals go near it."

Mr Collett said he had to split his staff up to work out of other offices in Kidderminster and Redditch. They were only able to return to Worcester last month.

"It was not ideal because you're not in the local market place," he said. "We had to keep telling people to phone another number or fax another number. It was certainly a tough time but we have been one of the biggest agencies in the Midlands, certainly in Worcester, for a long time now so we have got a really good business relationship with our clients and we would like to thank them for the support they have shown us over this period."

Mr Collett, aged 36, said last summer was not the first time the building had been flooded.

"We have been caught out twice now," he said.

"We thought when we came into the premises in 1999 we were far enough away from the river for flooding to be an issue, but we were flooded in 2000 - the water was above the radiators then."

As a result Mr Collett said the agency, which provides temporary and permanent jobs for people wanting to find work in a wide range of sectors, had to think hard about whether it would come back to the city.

"We had a big decision to make about whether we would come back into Worcester but we decided we have been here since 1999, we like the city, and we get on really well with our clients here," he said.