Decco's Chief Operating Officer John Findlay told GTN Xtra his company was able to respond to the current situation and deal with increased demand.

"The situation at Solus has resulted in us having to deal with significantly higher demand and we are working in close partnership with Scotts and all our other key suppliers to ensure that we deliver the products that garden centres need," said John.

"Decco have long standing relationships with all the main manufacturers and for many years an important part of our business has been supplying garden centres and high street retailers with a comprehensive range of garden products. We fully understand that having stock available at this key time in the season is vital and are doing everything that we can to make sure that this happens.

"We started the season with high levels of inventory and with the resources to service all our existing customers and new business that we anticipated we would add during the year. To enable us to deal with even higher levels of demand we have already substantially increased stock levels, increased numbers of warehouse staff, obtained short term additional warehouse space, that is now operational, and secured additional transport to add to our own existing fleet of over 60 commercial vehicles.

"Understandably customers are concerned about getting the products that they need and I am sure that will continue to be the case for a number of weeks. Our managers and sales teams have made and are making contact with as many customers as possible to establish what their requirements are how they want us to work with them to ensure that they have the products they need on the shelves and available for sale.

"Decco are a delivered wholesaler, we do not have to change our systems or methods of operation to deal with additional business, we just have to put additional resources in place and we have done that. Delivering high volumes of product reliably and quickly is what Decco has done for many years and we have a knowledgeable and experienced team in place at all our businesses around the country ready and able to respond to the current situation and deal with increased demand."

For more information on Decco visit www.decco.co.uk