WORKERS at doomed Time Computers told of their fury after only learning about the shutdown when they logged on to the internet.

Staff at the firm's Simonstone base were "kept in the dark" by bosses while speculation mounted the company was heading for collapse.

The final insult was delivered as administrators today said they could not save the firm or jobs, while ex-employees also discovered they will not be paid for the last month's work.

Simonstone-based Granville Technology Group, the parent company of Time, Tiny and The Computer Shop, yesterday went into under with mounting debts. Administrators from Grant Thornton were called in as 1,500 staff nationally -- around 580 in the area -- went to the wall.

But while reports throughout yesterday revealed the end for the company, some staff did not find out they were being made redundant until 4pm.

A sales worker, who did not want to be named, said: "We got told at 9am not to do any work, not to take any calls or orders. They said they were going to tell us what was happening at 11am but they didn't. Everyone was left hanging around."

Another furious worker said: "We only found out what was happening because we saw it on the internet. It's disgraceful."

Others said they had no idea their jobs were in jeopardy and only heard the bad news on the office radio.

Yasser Munir, 21, said: "I'm upset. Last week everything was OK and I walked in yesterday and found out about the stores closing. I woke up today and saw it on the news. There were no warnings whatsoever. I'm in shock."

Others said there was widespread anger that the media knew more about the impending redundancies than the employees. The bombshell announcement came after weeks of speculation about financial trouble.

The GMB union has called for a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) investigation to find out what happened. As well as job losses at Simonstone, hundreds more have gone at the 80 retail stores. Time will retain just 100 staff to man customer helplines.

Graham Coxon, of the GMB, said he was deeply concerned that staff had been "continually kept in the dark". Although staff at Time do not have union recognition, GMB was contacted by members at the firm who raised concerns over being paid late and being asked to take holidays due to lack of work.

Mr Coxon said: "My main concern is our members were not kept fully in the picture. They had serious concerns about the financial position and the company has continually denied it. If the company had been a bit more honest things could probably have been better and there would not be as much panic and concern as there is at present.

"The man-management situation has been terrible. Even yesterday they were denying there was anything wrong. Time are a massive employer and this will have major consequences for the area."

Rumours over trouble at the company came to a head last week when an e-mail from a "disgruntled employee" was circulated and reported on the web. It alleged the company had defaulted on a bank loan and told manufacturing workers to take holiday leave, which prompted denials from firm bosses.

And yesterday Richard Harris, a director at Granville, told the Evening Telegraph there were no plans for redundancies and denied it was in financial difficulty.

Meanwhile, police were called to the Time Computers base after workers complained they were not being let out of the building until an announcement had been made. Police set up a low-key presence to prevent any breaches of the peace.

l The company's customer helpline is 0870 381 7097.