New textiles owners sack 1,200

A management buyout team that bought former Coats Viyella plants in the East Midlands axed over 1,200 jobs in the weeks before Christmas - barely a week after the takeover. The job losses hit former Coats Viyella plants at Alfreton, Derbyshire, and Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, which were shut down.

Coats Viyella had sold four factories for pst12 million to new owner Marplace, which was set up by former Coats Viyella managers Richard Tonge and Mike Shotton.

Reacting to the job losses Barry Morris, deputy general secretary of textile union KFAT, said: "Our members are extremely angry. They have been kept in the dark for months ever since Coats Viyella put the business up for sale. Then their hopes are raised at news of the management buyout, only to be told they will lose their jobs."