King Ford in Stoke on Trent, has been placed in receivership, according to autowired.com.

Receivers at Grant Thornton failed to find a buyer for the troubled dealership and have announced the loss of up to 120 jobs.

They said that they had received 'one expression of interest but this had failed to materialise into a valid offer for the business'.

Staff were told last week about the appointment of receivers and, at that time, were informed the company would continue to trade while efforts to find a new buyer were made, the website said.

Latest accounts show the dealership generated a pre-tax profit of £105,482 during 2003, on a turnover of £20.6m.