Business Direct Group, the courier service business, has gone into administration with the loss of 70 jobs.

Its collapse comes after Amtrak went into administration last week with the possible loss of 1,000 jobs and as delivery companies suffer from high fuel prices and falling spending. The poor performance of City Link, with an operating loss of £12.5 million in the second quarter of this year, has contributed to Rentokil, its parent group, cutting its profit forecast four times since December.

Business Direct's £1.25 million cash call in June last year failed to keep it afloat. In July, it announced that it was trying to arrange the sale of all or part of its business to a number of interested parties. One of these, DX, bought the Parcel Exchange and In Night parts of the business yesterday from BDO Stoy Hayward, the administrators.

Mike Stone, chief operating officer of DX, said that the company planned to keep on the 80 people employed in these divisions but the rest would lose their jobs. “For DX, high oil prices don't have a huge impact,” Mr Stone said. “Our locker system means we are less reliant on fuel than other delivery companies.”

DX hopes to develop the business for the direct-to-consumer market, in which customers pick up purchases from secure lockers rather than rely on deliveries.

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