A COMPANY which has disappeared amid claims it charged East Lancashire firms for printing work it did not complete has withdrawn an advert for deliverers from a job centre.

Several firms in Blackburn and Darwen claim they paid around £500 each to Advantage Image and Design, Ribbleton Lane, Preston, to have 50,000 leaflets printed.

But they were recently told by Print Plus of Bradford - who were hired by Advantage to do the work - that only 25,000 leaflets had been printed and the company had disappeared without paying.

Now the mother of a 19-year-old university student, who lives in Blackburn, claims her son replied to an advert at Burnley Job Centre asking for "reliable and responsible" people to deliver leaflets in East Lancashire.

She said: "My son delivered leaflets for this company after answering an advert at the Job Centre.

"The company brought 5,000 leaflets round, but he told them he could only deliver 2,800 as he had found another job.

"They offered £10 per thousand and he delivered 2,800. He went all round Bank Top in Blackburn, Accrington, Mellor and Balderstone with them.

"They owe him £28 and said at the start they'd send him a cheque as it was a one-off payment - but we must have spent £5 ringing them up. We just can't get hold of them."

A spokeswoman for the Employment Service said: "The advert was suspended this morning after the company rang the Job Centre and said they didn't need the position advertised any more."

A mobile phone number believed to belong to a director of Advantage today rang but was not answered. The company is being investigated by Lancashire County Council trading standards officers.

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