Newbridge tyre plant to close

CONTINENTAL TYRES, the fourth-largest tyre maker in the world, yesterday announced the closure of its Newbridge plant near Edinburgh. All 774 workers will be made redundant. The German-owned company blames the move on market conditions.

Stewart Segrott, operations director at the Newbridge plant, said: "The plant has incurred losses of almost pounds 30m over the past five years and this situation is compounded by the strength of the pound which makes our product more expensive to export and further investment prohibitively expensive."

The GMB union said that the closure would have a "devastating affect" on the work force and the local economy.