Ex-strikers realise go-kart dream

Jimmy Clarke, John Davis and Richard Lawson with their go-karts

Three men who lost their jobs in one of Wales's longest industrial disputes have opened a £1m motor sport venture.

John Davis, Richard Lawson and James Clarke have set up an indoor go-karting centre in Caernarfon.

The trio were on the picket line at Friction Dynamics when they found they shared a love of speed sports.

They are still pursuing a claim for unfair dismissal against their former employer. Their own firm, Redline, has taken on five staff.

The trio embarked on the go-kart operation when they realised many fans of the sport travelled as far as Sandycroft in Deeside, Warrington and Liverpool to take part in karting.

The centre, based at the Cibyn industrial estate in Caernarfon, has 18 karts, including six designed for children aged eight or over.

The three men have invested their redundancy in the project and received advice and financial assistance from a number of sources, including the Welsh Assembly Government agency, Finance Wales.

The Friction Dynamics site was picketed for three years

Mr Davis, 57, the operation's administrative director, said: "We still can't believe it. We're pinching ourselves.

"It's taken us three years to get to this stage and there have been many points when we thought we'd never make it.

"And now suddenly, to our surprise, we're responsible for other people. It's very strange, considering we've been employees all our lives."

In all, 86 workers from the Friction Dynamics factory at Caernarfon went on strike in 2001 over working conditions but were sacked eight weeks later. They picketed for nearly three years.

They were expecting compensation after a tribunal found they were unfairly dismissed, but did not get any when Friction Dynamics went into administration in August 2003.

But when a new firm, Dynamex Friction, opened on the same site two weeks later, an industrial tribunal ruled the close connection between the two firms meant workers should have been offered employment or redundancy packages.