A Liverpool-based tool and equipment hire firm has cut almost 500 jobs after reporting lower than hoped for results for October.
Speedy Hire, the UK's largest tool and equipment hire firm, has shed 492 jobs most of most of which happened last month.

Diyweek.net has learnt the majority of redundancies had already taken place with the remaining staff set to leave in the coming weeks.

About 90% of the staff left in October with the remaining 10% leaving this month and in December.

The firm, which this month also expanded its fleet of high-energy battery-powered delivery vehicles, has announced a half year rise in pre-tax profits to 23.8m, up 3.9%, with revenues of £265.2m.

But, this was 6% down on the expected target prompting the firm to take early action to ensure it can weather an increasingly gloomy market.