TVR shelves half their workforce
Author: Tracy Wilkinson
Published: 21 April 2006
You´d be forgiven for thinking that the week had been bad enough already for the UK car manufacturing industry, with the news of Peugeot´s decision to close down their Midlands plant hitting headlines all over the UK.
It seems that things are going from bad to worse. Admist all the furore over the Ryton plant closure, TVR, the UK´s biggest independent sports carmaker have taken the move of informing half of their 300 strong workforce by letter, not to return to work on Monday.
The move comes after production at their Blackpool plant is said to have fallen from 12 cars a week to two.
The Transport and General Workers Union said 150 staff at the firm had been told by letter to stay home from Monday.
TVR was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson who used the TV and R from this first name to form the company title. The cars have long been popular with sports car enthusiasts due to their exciting drive and good value.
The firm was bought in 2004 by Russian multi-millionare Nikolay Smolensky who was 23 at the time. His personal wealth is thought to be around the £56m mark.
It is hoped that this with be a temporary measure due to lack of orders. Last year 90 workers were laid off for similar reasons and two thirds of them are now back in employement at the company. Whether they are involved in the lastest round of cuts is unknown
Source:BBC
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