1,000 jobs lost at Auto Windscreens

More than 1,000 Auto Windscreens workers have lost their jobs after administrators said they had been unable to save the business.

Deloitte announced the closure of the Chesterfield-based group and made 1,042 staff redundant yesterday after failing to get an offer for the business as a whole. Although the majority of staff had been sent home when the company collapsed on 14 February, the administrations had hoped to keep the UK's second-largest windscreen and repair business running as a going concern while they sought a buyer.

Chris Farrington, joint liquidator and partner at Deloitte, said: "In the absence of any funding and no going concern offer, we have had no alternative but to close the business, leading to 1,042 staff being made redundant."

Auto Windscreens, which was founded in 1971, had an annual turnover of £63m and had been undergoing a recovery programme. It ran into trouble after it was hit by delays in bringing in IT systems, coupled with lower-than-expected revenues in the final quarter of 2010, which led to cashflow pressures.