MPs describe job losses at Caparo as 'shocking' and 'surprising'

Staff at five sites in Darlaston, Oldbury, Dudley, West Bromwich and Cradley Heath were called into meetings with administrators yesterday to be informed they were being laid off with immediate effect.

Administrators from PwC confirmed that 323 jobs have gone across the five plants, leaving workers – many of whom have been with the firm for decades – devastated.

Caparo Atlas Fastenings in Heath Road, Darlaston was worst hit with 122 workers made redundant.

A total of 68 jobs have gone at Caparo Precision Tubes in Oldbury, as well as 64 at Caparo Forging Europe in Dudley, 59 at Fairbright Wire in West Bromwich and 10 at the Cradley Heath CMT Engineering plant.

The Darlaston, Dudley and West Bromwich sites were closed with immediate effect.

The business, which was the biggest manufacturing company in the Black Country with 1,700 workers across 20 sites, was put into administration earlier this month.

Plants in Hartlepool and Tredagar have also closed as part of a total of 452 redundancies announced by bosses.

Matt Hammond, PwC partner and lead administrator said: "It is with regret that we have made these decisions, but the commercial prospects of the affected businesses render them unviable."

He added that more than 1,200 staff remain employed in Caparo Industries. "They continue to work and be paid as normal," he said.

MPs, councillors and business leaders have pledged to support staff in their efforts to find new jobs. Workers at the Darlaston plant told the Express & Star they had been left in a state of shock by the news, having not received any prior notice of the closure.

They were told to stop work at around 9.55am and called to a meeting with administrators in the main warehouse.

One 29-year-old worker, who asked not to be named, said: "They didn't try and sugar coat it. They said we're closing down and you're all redundant. Everyone just fell silent. We've been trading as normal and taking on new work. It came completely out of the blue."

Valerie Vaz MP for Walsall South, said: "It's a terrible shock given workers were apparently led to believe they would still have jobs.

"It would have been much better to preserve the workers' skills and expertise for the future. Specialist and skilled manufacturing is at the heart of Darlaston's industrial heritage. We cannot afford for it to be lost."

Union bosses from Unite set up a helpline to support staff and West Midlands regional secretary Gerard Coyne described the closures as 'another grim day for the manufacturing community' in the Black Country in the wake of Goodyear closing its plant in Wolverhampton.

"We will be doing everything to support our members and will leave no stone unturned to ensure they aren't left high and dry."

West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey said: "It's surprising how quickly this has happened. I'm also concerned about the impact on other business supplied by these plants."