Handcuff shortage feared as firm goes

Police in the Black Country are facing a shortage of handcuffs as one of the only manufacturers in Britain prepares to close its doors for the final time.

Hiatt & Company, which has been making handcuffs, leg-irons, manacles and shackles for more than 200 years, will close its Birmingham workshops within a fortnight with the loss of 15 jobs.

Production is moving overseas to a factory in the United States where the handcuffs will be made by New Hampshire-based company Hiatt-Thompson.

The American plant began making cuffs in different colours such as pink, purple, green, blue, yellow and orange last year.

Police sources, who did not want to be named, said they were even considering looking on internet auction site eBay because supplies are already running low.

One procurement officer said: "It's not going to be a problem, it already is a problem. I called the other day to buy in some stock and was told: "We can't do your order, we're closing'. It was the first I'd heard of it."

Hiatt, which is based in Perry Barr, has been the venue for several big protests on human rights amid allegations the company manufactured the shackles used on detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

A spokesman for BAE Systems, Hiatt's parent company, said: "There shouldn't be any problems with supplies to British police."