YOU may not realise it but an East Lancashire company's products are seen by motorists all over the country every time they fill up.

Hepworth Building Products, of Padiham, produces a range of items including forecourt signs for Shell petrol stations all over Europe.

Now the firm is set to step up production of the signs after its Glass Reinforced Plastics Division took possession of a new press.

The press, bought from a company in France, can exert 1,500 tonnes of pressure, and weighs in at a hefty 150 tonnes itself.

The press has now been assembled on specially-reinforced foundations at the Padiham site.

The firm's computer experts are about to install controls to allow it to operate at maximum efficiency and safety.

Division manager Peter Cassidy said: "We are still less than a quarter of the way through an eight-year programme to give all European Shell stations the new look.

"And we are hopeful that orders will come in from other parts of the world."

He is pictured with the new press in place at the factory.

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