The Transport and General Workers Union have called for the Department of Trade and Industry to launch an investigation into TVR, the Blackpool-based sports car manufacturer.

The T&G are unhappy with the way workers and local community have been treated over the last year, which culminated in Blackpool Automotive going into administration and the loss of 250 jobs just before Christmas.

“The sacking of over 250 skilled car workers with no pay, the ‘hokey cokey’ of people being laid off and taken back on needs to be examined critically,” said Dave McCall, T&G regional secretary in the North West at the union’s first regional committee meeting this year. “Corporate legislation isn’t working for working people and their families,” he said.

TVR, owned by Nikolai Smolenski, announced in October that it would close the Blackpool operation and relocate manufacturing to an undisclosed site in Europe.

Talks were immediately convened with the company involving the T&G, the local authorities and the Regional Development Agency to try to find a resolution without closure.

Smolenski has said he will pay workers which lost their jobs directly. This action has been welcomed by unions. However, no monies have been received via this route.

If it proves impossible to pay the workforce through the administration process or by Smolenski, UK taxpayers will have to fund the worker’s redundancy pay under the statutory DTI scheme.