UPDATED: It is definite that 41 employees at the City Link depot at Bellingham Way, Larkfield, will lose their jobs, after a last-minute rescue attempt for the firm fell through.

The parcel delivery company went into administration on Christmas Day, threatening the jobs of 2,727 employees across the county, including 72 in Kent. There is a second depot in Ashford employing another 24 workers, 19 of whom have now lost their jobs.

Seven workers at Larkfield and five at Ashford will be retained for a period while the firm's existing business is wound up.

Workers had been hoping that a last-minute rescue package by an unnamed financial consortium would save the firm.

But administrators Ernst Young announced last night that the deal had fallen through, saying the would-be buyers had significantly under-valued the company and failed to offer any cash up front.

The administrators said they had proposed alternative terms to the consortium “that would be acceptable and common in these situations, but the consortium, despite attempts to make them reconsider, declined to amend their original offer”.

Kent MPs have branded City Link’s treatment of its staff utterly appalling.

Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said: “The manner in which employees have been treated in this process is utterly appalling.

“The least they deserve now is the best possible redundancy terms and support from the Government where possible.”

The company has begun redundancy negotiations with 2,356 staff nationwide, the remainder may retain their jobs for a period.

The leader of the RMT union that represents many of the workers. Mick Cash, declared the decision not to accept the rescue offer to be “a disgraceful and cynical betrayal.”