Pendragon’s plan to close 22 of its 34 UK-wide Evans Halshaw Car Store used car retail sites gathered momentum last week with staff taking to social media to share their sadness at site closures.

Kayley Briggs, the head of business at the Car Store site in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, took to LinkedIn on Friday (September 25) to bid farewell to the business that opened its doors to customers eight months ago.

And within hours Steve Mochrie, Briggs’ counterpart at the Stoke facility, commented that his newly-refurbished showroom site had closed its doors at 1pm that day while wishing her “good luck”.

But despite the progress of Pendragon's plans, the group would not reveal the CarStore closures earmarked for closure when AM made enquiries this week.

Sharing her sadness at the closure of the Worksop site, Briggs said that she had enjoyed her time working with the “amazing people” across Pendragon for whom the closures marked a “sad day”.

Despite the sadness, she added: “All still smiling all proud to have been a part of the Car Store journey. #ProudtobePendragon. All the best for the future.”

Pendragon revealed plans to close 22 of its Car Store used car supermarkets and one vehicle preparation centre after detailing a £32.2m underlying pre-tax loss in its H1 2019 financial results on September 18.

Following its efforts to reduce the levels of excess used car stock – which came after a review commissioned by former chief executive Mark Herbert identified the issue amid losses in the group’s rapidly established Car Store network – it announced the plan, which will aim to be completed during H2, 2019.

Its plans were revealed just a week after AM reported the allegations of a source who claimed that Pendragon’s plan to curb its ailing financial performance could result in 1,300 job losses. The group would not comment.

While Pendragon had said that the vehicle preparation centre set for closure as part of its plans was its facility in Stoke it did not reveal the location of the Car Store sites that were set to shut.

In response to an enquiry from AM seeking clarification of its plans, and the locations of the closures, a spokesman for the group said he was “not able to get into the specifics at this stage”.

However, a statement issued by the group in response stated: “We’ve entered a period of consultation with a number of team members across the Car Store business, which are currently underway.

“Our team members remain our main priority and where possible we are making every effort to find alternative roles within our group.”