TMHUK operations director Tony Wallis

Toyota Material Handling UK (TMHUK) has denied it is closing its Castleford operation, claiming it is "rightsizing" facilities there and will maintain a strong presence in the area.

Operations director Tony Wallis issued a statement after Forkliftaction.com News contacted TMHUK about rumours circulating on Forkliftaction.com's Discussion Forums.

Industry sources posted on the Forum that TMHUK will "most probably" be closing its Castleford site by October 2010 and that all new truck preparation will move to Leicester, warranty personnel will move to Warrington, and sales and marketing staff will move to a small office in Castleford. Sources say redundancies can be expected in the sales administrative, engineering and warranty department roles.

"Indicating we are closing Castleford is not a true reflection of our strategy," Wallis says.

"We are expanding jobs and facilities in our UK operations to achieve efficiency and increase customer satisfaction, which has identified the need to resize Castleford ... Our marketing, training academy, technical services, human resources, finance, demonstrator fleet operation, IT, sales and after-sales support functions based in Castleford are unaffected," he explains.