AS the axe comes down on 177 jobs in East Lancashire at crisis-hit Crown Wallcoverings, it is the suddenness and ruthlessness of the blow that has stunned victims and their families as much as the blow itself.

Now, though fears for the future of jobs at the works arose when the famous-name business plunged into receivership five days ago, hundreds of households, shocked by the abruptness of the sackings, face the anguish of how their bills will be paid.

And as their union began the fight for better compensation, there were complaints about the 'absolutely dreadful' way the receivers went about the redundancies.

Yet, it is one of the grim realities of the insolvency and receivership business that there is seldom a gentle way of going about such surgery -- above all, when the state of a business may be that there is no financial scope for generous severance terms and severely practical steps need to be swiftly taken if any rescue of the enterprise can be hoped for.

In short, receivers often have an unpleasant task to carry out under considerable pressure. That, however, is of small comfort to those on the receiving end of their axe.

But, amid concerns that the receivers at Crown have been brutal, let us hope that the pain is ultimately beneficial and that through their efforts the business and the remaining jobs may be saved.