Coventry's Liberty Pressing Solutions to close gates for last time

A Coventry manufacturer has ceased production and is set to close later this month, a union said.

About 200 people worked at Liberty Pressing Solutions previously, with just 30 now remaining, Unite said.

Owner GFG Alliance announced in March last year it had been unable to find a buyer for the company due to the "structural long-term downturn in the UK automotive market".

A Liberty spokesperson confirmed it was stopping manufacturing at the site.

"We have completed our remaining supply commitments to customers and ceased manufacturing," the firm said.

Workers remaining at the site were there to ensure the handover from one supplier to another goes smoothly, said Unite's national officer Des Quinn.

GFG's main backer Greensill Capital collapsed in March 2021, forcing it to sell off parts of the global company.

The Coventry works, which had specialised in making parts for the automotive industry, had been losing work "over a number of years," said Mr Quinn, "mostly on a price basis".

"The remaining customers decided that it was a risk to their business when they had been asked to increase their prices," he said.

"So as a result they took their business elsewhere and that's what has resulted in the closure of the site."

Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana had raised the issue in Parliament, calling on the government to help those affected, after GFG Alliance announced the restructuring and refinancing programme.

A formal consultation was opened on 7 March, 2021, into the closure of the site, the company previously said.

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