HUNDREDS of people will lose their jobs when two neighbouring companies close down.

Up to 300 staff at Roseby's North West Distribution Centre and Northern Nets, which operate from the same building in Brunswick Street, Nelson, received letters earlier this month telling them both will shut down on May 3.

None of the workers approached by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph wanted to be identified as they feared they could lose their redundancy pay.

But one female factory worker on her lunch break said: "We've been given 90 days. They've put it down to the building. It needs £1.2million spent on it and needs a new roof.

"We don't know what we're going to do. I've worked here since I left school."

Another added: "A lot of us are the wrong age to go anywhere else."

The two firms are run as two subsidiaries of Roseby's in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. A spokesman for Roseby's said the building survey had nothing to do with the decision to close.

He explained: "It's uncompetitive to source these products from the UK. The future of the business would be seriously compromised if we didn't take this difficult decision.

"We obviously regret having to make this decision but be have no choice if our business is to remain competitive and the future of the group is assured.

"We will be taking every possible step to help people affected by this decision through this difficult time."

Nelson Jobcentre is making efforts to get the the staff work before they leave.

Nikki Nuttall acting business manager at the job centre said they had been told jobs need to be found for between 200 and 300 people.

She said: "We've had a couple of meetings with the human resources department and registered every member of staff and are going to open a job shop on the premises.

"We are doing everything we can to get them into jobs before they leave."

She added that they would explore every option from retraining people to looking at self employment.