Online retailer Asos’ main distribution warehouse has been destroyed by fire, damaging stock worth over £20m.
At 9.50pm on Friday, over 500 workers at Asos’ Barnsley warehouse were evacuated after a fire alarm.
At 1AM there was still quite a lot of smoke coming from the fire at the ASOS warehouse pic.twitter.com/dHMfTFea0d
— Mathew Hanley (@mathew_hanley) June 21, 2014
After its initial investigations, South Yorkshire Police launched a criminal investigation and said the fire was deliberately lit.
Asos said that a fifth of its stock was compromised and damage could exceed £30m. It had to shut its website until Monday morning too.
One of the photos from the fire last night at @ASOS the smoke was pouring out pic.twitter.com/Vu8cdv4Lxg
— Mathew Hanley (@mathew_hanley) June 21, 2014
The company said in a statement: “None of the technology, automation or structure of the building has been affected by the fire.
“Our initial estimate is that approximately 20% of the total stock at the site has been compromised by fire damage and the sprinkler systems.”
“The clean-up process commenced on Saturday morning and progressed quickly.
“Consequently at 2am this morning we recommenced taking orders. We are fully insured for loss of stock and business interruption.”
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