Hundreds Of Wrightbus Staff Attend Redundancy Clinic

Hundreds of former Wrightbus employees have attended a redundancy clinic in Ballymena today in the wake of the firm's collapse.

Some 1,200 staff were made redundant last week when the bus manufacturer formally entered administration. Many of those attended the advice and support clinic this afternoon, Monday 30 September, to fill out their claim forms.

The company, which is best known for building the London Routemaster, was in talks for a new investor amid ongoing cash flow problems. Negotiations failed to reach a conclusion, however, with the Unite union confirming it had been placed into administration.

The union has since demanded Government action to open the gates and save jobs- with thousands of additional supply chain roles at risk.

"The Wright family must do the right thing and 'hand back the land' to protect jobs and skills," Unite's officer with responsibility for the Wrightbus workforce, George Brash, said.

Fresh calls for Government intervention come as Chancellor Sajid David is set to make transport and infrastructure announcements at the Conservative party conference. Some £220 million is expected to be committed to public transport, in particular to increasing the stock of buses operating across the UK.

Regional Secretary Jackie Pollock said: "If the Tories are serious about delivering an 'infrastructure revolution' with public transport at its heart, they must move immediately to secure the future of Wrightbus as a cutting edge manufacturer.

"Failure to do so will expose the promised 'infrastructure revolution' as just another empty conference pledge."

Mr Brash added: "As a sign of good faith to their workforce and the wider community, we are calling on the Wright family to do the right thing and hand back the land to the people of Ballymena. Such a move offers the best hope to safeguard the workforce jobs and skills and a future for this town.

"Northern Ireland cannot afford to lose 1,200 jobs and a highly-skilled workforce which has the capacity to deliver on their promised infrastructure revolution," Mr Brash concluded.



(JG/CM)