ELEVEN staff look set to be made redundant from historic Blackburn firm East Lancashire Coach Builders Ltd.

The Lower Philips Road, Whitebirk, firm, has announced to staff that 11 workers, mainly office staff, are to be laid off.

Consultation is ongoing with union representatives, but bosses expect talks to be complete this week.

MIke Kilroy, managing director, expects most of the 11 staff to be made up of volunteers for redundancy and "natural wastage" but admitted the move, with Christmas less than two weeks away, was "unfortunate."

He said: "We announced it four weeks ago and we have been in consultation since, and I thing that this week 11 people will be, unfortunately, made compulsorily redundant.

"We have had a good response to volunteers and natural wastage and, therefore, we are down to 11. It was a case of, we needed to reduce our costs to remain competitive.

"The consultation process is almost at an end. It's unfortunate for the people involved. I realise that but in the scheme of things they're not big numbers. The whole group employs over 300 people so it safeguards the employment over 300 people."

Peter Reid, regional industry organiser for Transport General Workers' Union, said: "The main redundancies will not taking place until the new year because of the notice period."

The firm employs about 100 people at its base in Blackburn.