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Outrage as TVR workers not paid
UNION bosses are set for urgent talks after beleaguered car firm TVR was placed in administration.
Angry staff were told by letter two days before Christmas they would not be getting paid because there were "no funds available".
This was despite reassurances – which according to union bosses came as late as Friday lunchtime – from management that the money would be paid in to workers' bank accounts.
A meeting has now been pencilled in for Tuesday January 2 with the administrators, from PKF Accountants and Business Administrators, who took control of TVR on Friday.
Tony Hodson, union convener at TVR, said the news meant a "very bleak" festive season for workers at the historic Bispham factory.
He said: "The administrators will look through all the paperwork and investigate the financial position of the company.
"They will be looking at whether the business can be sold.
"At the moment, the staff are just in limbo facing a very uncertain New Year.
"We don't know what to expect this time, because every time we have built up a bit of hope, it's just been knocked right down again. It's despicable the way the staff have been treated.
"(To get the letter) was a huge body blow for the workers and to get the news right before Christmas was awful. It is very, very sad.
"It's just TVR all over."
Andy Robertson, regional organiser of the Transport and General Workers' Union, said the news was a devastating blow for staff.
"We don't know what will happen yet. The workforce feel they just want some closure. They want to know once and for all whether they will have jobs or be redundant."
Joan Humble, MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, said: "This is a very sad way to end what has been an extremely difficult year for the dedicated workforce at TVR.
This has been a dreadful way for the management to treat a workforce who have devoted themselves to building a wonderful sports car which is known throughout the world.
"I feel desperately sad for the families who now won't have an income from the company over Christmas and who will be waiting, full of anxiety, to see what the New Year will bring
TVR – which has been based in Blackpool since 1947 – announced in October it was out-sourcing production, possibly to Europe, next year.
Earlier this month, 260 workers were told they would be made redundant after talks to keep the crisis-hit sports car firm in the resort collapsed.
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