Brexit deal has made EU trade an ‘impossible task’, says Ripon oil director

Thomas Kerfoot said O&3, which he set up with sisters Jennifer Wood and Eleanor Wade three years ago, will keep its base in Ripon. (S)

Thomas Kerfoot, commercial director at natural oils firm O&3, said delays at the ports were so bad that trading with the EU was now “an impossible task”.

“Just weeks into a post-Brexit environment, our company cannot import or export goods as it could before,” said commercial director Mr Kerfoot, who set up O&3 with his sisters, CEO Jennifer Wood and operations director Eleanor Wade, three years ago.

“Politicians have spun us a line that we have walked away with a deal. This is as bad as a No Deal. Yes, no tariffs, but never was there any mention of the hefty duty implications, paperwork, backlog, delays and the difficulty of the EU borders that we are now faced with.”

He said the barriers to trade were now so great that British firms were losing business: “Documentation is a huge mountain to climb, so much so that European clients are simply turning their backs on the prospect of buying from a UK company.”

The broadside came as a survey by the Road Haulage Association revealed that exports to the EU going through British ports fell by 68 per cent last month compared with January last year.

However, the Government has said it does not recognise this figure, responding that “disruption at the border has so far been minimal and freight movements are now close to normal levels”.

Ripon-based O&3 employs 56 people and normally turns over £16m annually. The company is heavily reliant on international trade, and in preparation for Brexit set up a Polish operation last year. It says the facility can service over 40 per cent of its client base tariff-free and will now be its main source of revenue.

“Our business will continue to prosper within the European Union from its new EU facility. We will pay taxes to the European Union. We will create jobs within the European Union,” said Mr Kerfoot.

“We will keep our UK business because we are proud of our Yorkshire heritage, our roots, people, and ultimately it is where our story began. [But] it does not remain here for commercial prosperity.”