DIXON Motors is to shut its Car Clinic operation in Derby Street, Bury, because of a general skills shortage and other key factors.

But the 25 staff are being offered alternative employment at similar company centres in Leeds and Bradford. The Bury Car Clinic is scheduled to close by the end of November.

Dixon managing director Barry Whittles said: "Regretfully, we have decided to close our Car Clinic operation in Bury. A general skills shortage in the body repair industry means that, as a group, we have had difficulty finding the standard of people that is needed to operate a successful business.

"This, combined with the local competition and lack of projected work for the business in Bury, means that with the high level of financial investment required, a new development would not be commercial viable."

He said that the company would lay on transport to ease the travel implications for those in Bury who decided to work in Leeds or Bradford.

Mr Whittles concluded: "The move of qualified technicians from Bury should help ease the skills shortage in Leeds and Bradford and enable those businesses to provide a greater support to the Dixon car dealerships that are clustered in these cities."

Dixon Car Clinics operate 12 sites and is part of Dixon Motors, one of the leading car retailers in the UK. The company currently sells more than 70,000 vehicles from its 64 dealerships and the group operates the largest motorcycle retail brand in Europe.