Drivers' jobs safe for now after Lindsey Oil Refinery owners enter administration

Train drivers’ jobs at Colas, which operates trains in and out of the Lindsey Oil Refinery (LOR) in north Lincolnshire, are safe for now after the government stepped in when the refinery’s owners went into administration.

A winding-up order was made against the owners, Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Limited, Prax Storage Lindsey Limited, and Prax Terminals Killingholme Limited, on June 30.

It’s understood the government is funding the official receiver to ensure the continued running of LOR. 420 people work at the refinery, although the Unite union is warning up to 1,000 jobs would be at risk if contractors and the supply chain are taken into account.

This would include train drivers working for Colas.

Although the UK’s smallest refinery in terms of capacity, LOR can process up to 113,000 barrels of oil a day.  

The refinery extends over 500 acres, and Prax says it incorporates some of the most advanced refining and conversion processes in Europe. It sits next door to the Phillips 66 Humber refinery, which has a capacity of 221,000 barrels a day.

Most of its output is petrol and diesel for road vehicles, with the remaining proportion being products such as fuel oil, kerosene and aviation fuel, including for Heathrow Airport.

The refinery has rail and road loading facilities and a high-capacity pipeline connection to the Greater London area.

Colas runs oil tanker trains from LOR to several locations, including the Kingsbury Oil Terminal near Tamworth in the Midlands, the Prax oil terminal at Jarrow near Newcastle and Theale in Berkshire.

Simon Weller, Assistant General Secretary of train driver’s union ASLEF, told RAIL: “There seems to be some confusion as to what’s happened to the owning company, but the contract is being honoured because the government has stepped in, so at the moment it’s business as usual and the trains continue to run.”