Jobs shock for 130 shoe workers

Workers have been told not to go back on Monday

Another 130 jobs are going at a Northamptonshire footwear factory.

Workers at Totectors at Rushden have been told not to go back after their current holiday.

Competition from abroad, where production costs are cheaper, is being blamed for the closure..

Receivers took over the running of the safety-footwear company at the beginning of July.

Attempts to find a buyer for the factory, where 75 jobs went in January, have failed.

On Friday - the last day of the workers' factory fortnight's holiday - letters went out telling 130 staff they should not report back on Monday.

A statement from receivers Grant Thornton says it has become clear the manufacturing facility at Rushden was no longer viable as a going concern..

The latest blow to the footwear industry in the country comes less than a year after R Griggs announced that more than 1,000 jobs are to go at factories in Wellingborough, Irthlingborough and Wollaston.

Griggs, which makes Dr Martens boots, moved production to China.

Totectors has been making shoes for more than 160 years.