Disabled workers welcome Arlington Automotive factory rescue

Dean Philips, who worked at Arlington Automotive Group for 24 years, has a learning disability

Disabled workers have said they are delighted to have their jobs back, after the rescue of a car parts plant.

Scott Harwood and Dean Phillips were among hundreds of people who lost their jobs when Arlington Automotive Group went into administration in May.

Its Coventry plant was bought for an "undisclosed eight figure sum" by Evtec Automotive.

It has since brought back 182 people to the site, with 30% of its permanent workforce having a disability.

Arlington, which supplied car makers such as JLR, Ford and Nissan, employed mainly disabled workers after it took over Remploy factories following the loss of government funding in 2013.

It brought in administrators in May, after the coronavirus outbreak led to a drop in new car sales, affecting the wider sector.

At the time, some employees said they risked losing lose thousands of pounds from their redundancy deal due to it going into administration.

Mr Phillips, who has a learning disability, had worked for Arlington for 24 years, in plants in Birmingham and Coventry.

He said he had been "shocked" when he was told he was being made redundant.

"I wasn't expecting it," he said.

"It is difficult for me [to find a new job] because I have got to be careful being disabled, it wouldn't be easy."

He said returning to the Coventry plant had been a relief.

Scott Harwood said he "jumped at the chance" to work at the Coventry plant

In all, about 600 workers were employed by Arlington when the firm collapsed.

Stuart Richards, from the GMB union, said the workforce were "badly let down by the company and the administration process".

"Thankfully, Evtec have now stepped in and GMB have been liaising with the company to ensure disabled workers are given an opportunity for further employment," he said.

Scott Harwood, 30, had been working at the Birmingham plant for seven years.

"It was a nice little family atmosphere at the place, really nice," he said.

Mr Harwood said after finding out he would be losing his job he was "angry and confused".

"It was worrying how I was going to pay my bills," he said.

"It was disappointing not to be able to say goodbye to a lot of the people I used to work with.

"I am dyslexic, so it was very confusing with all the paperwork and that, so it was a bit of a hard time."

When he heard Evtec were hiring, he said he "jumped at the chance".

The company supplies car makers including JLR, Ford and Nissan

"It helps that there was a few people already here who I had worked with at Birmingham at the time. It was easy to settle in and get straight to it," he said.

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Jane Billson, head of HR, said since: "Since the Evtec acquisition we have been working hard to stabilise the business whilst providing meaningful opportunities not only for ex-employees who were made redundant under the administration... but also offer employment to some of our temporary workers who had stuck with the business throughout the past 10 months."