AROUND 130 workers are facing a bleak and uncertain future after administrators at a troubled Accrington firm annou-nced the axe was to fall on their jobs.

Employees at Automotive Applied Technologies (AAT) on Exchange Street were given the grim news this week, just a month before Christmas, after desperate attempts to sell the company as a going concern failed.

Earlier this month, 20 workers were told they were being made redundant to balance the books.

But now the firm, which makes injection moulded plastic trims for cars, is set to get rid of the rest of its workforce just one month after going into administration as a result of a cash crisis.

On 22 October, the troubled company called in administrators Menzies to review its operations, structure and financial position, and since then numerous meetings have been held to look at the company’s future.

The administrators originally said they were hoping the firm would be bought by new owners and a shortlist of potential buyers was drawn up. It was even hoped a deal would be secured by the end of November.

But that upbeat, optimistic mood has now evaporated.

One worker, who did not want to be named, said: "Several emergency meetings have been called and we have basically been told we will not not have any jobs by December.

"We have been told the company will be winding down, which means we will all be out of work, but they have told us very little about why it has happened."

A spokesman for Menzies said: "Although there was a lot of genuine interest, we have been unable to secure a purchaser to keep the business trading due to various operational hurdles.

"Therefore, a decision has been taken to enter into a structured wind-down process which will be completed during the course of December.

"The administrators will remain in regular discussions with the staff and the unions regarding this process. We are yet to finalise the plan but it will be determined in the coming days.

"We will continue to assist the staff in any way that we can in the run-up to, and following, the closure."

AAT, formerly known as Textile Mouldings, suffered badly from the closure of MG Rover, for which it did a lot of work, almost two years ago.