MORE than 200 workers were today facing a bleak future after a double jobs blow hit East Lancashire

Car parts manufacturer Volex is to shut its wiring division in Todmorden with the loss of 174 jobs.

And Barnoldswick-based Silentnight Beds has become the latest of Pendle's largest firms to shed workers, with up to 40 set to go due to falling business.

Workers at Volex, Mons Mill, Burnley Road, were told the company is transferring all work to its larger base in Leigh where about 600 are employed.

Managing director Tom Barber said: "We have unfortunately had to make the decision to close the Todmorden factory and as part of the closure 174 jobs will be lost.

"For some time we have been running the two factories at less than full capacity and this is a very competitive industry. It came down to a question of costs."

The company will close the Todmorden base in April.

He said: "We will be doing what ever we can to make it as human as possible for our workers and we are sorry to have had to take this decision."

Staff representatives at Silentnight, which employs around 700 people, have been told 30-day consultation period has begun and no final decision will be made on exact numbers until after that is completed.

Human resources director, Stephen Pickard, said: "We have informed the employee representatives that we are seeking up to 40 redundancies although the numbers have not been finalised yet."

The jobs will predominantly go from the beds manufacturing side of the business, said Mr Pickard.

The beds division is the main part of the parent group Silentnight Holdings based in nearby Salterforth.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.