Milk haulier Lloyd Fraser falls into administration

One of the UK’s biggest milk hauliers, Lloyd Fraser, is reported to be in administration and has had its operating licence revoked.

This has resulted in an unknown number of tankers being locked up in dairies and unable to pick up milk on Friday 22 September.

Fridays are known to be one of the biggest milk collection days on UK farms.

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Lloyd Fraser is owned by Irish venture capitalist company Barbican Capital.

The company, which has its headquarters in Rugby, Warwickshire, is a contract haulier which services many of the biggest milk companies, including Arla, Muller, Meadow and others.

Chris Walkland, a dairy industry analyst, said: “Significant quantities of milk are likely to be lost today and over the weekend if those tankers cannot be released for active use.

“We could be talking about many millions of litres of milk being affected.”

Dairy companies are making contingency plans for milk collections on the affected farms.

Meadow has confirmed the news with its own milk suppliers. It said: “Unfortunately, we must inform you that Lloyd Fraser has gone into administration, this will impact on-farm milk collections.

“We are working to put resolutions in place. However, farms who would normally be collected by Lloyd Fraser will not be collected today [Friday 22 September].

“We will be in contact with further information when available, hopefully later today.”

Arla Foods said its priority was to ensure its farmer owners’ milk continues to be collected.

A company spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have implemented contingency plans in the areas where Lloyd Fraser operates, which includes, Cheshire, North Wales, and Shrewsbury.”

NFU dairy board chair Michael Oakes said: “We are aware of issues with milk collections across a number of regions and we are working with others in the dairy supply chain to determine the extent of the impact on our members.

“As new collection plans are put in place, we would urge dairy producers who are affected to contact their milk buyer as soon as possible and to get in touch with NFU CallFirst for further advice and support.”

No one was available from Lloyd Fraser for comment on Friday.