Bridgewood plastic factory fire: Staff praise local community

Flames quickly engulfed the factory at Hessle near Hull

Factory workers who lost their job when a plastics plant burned down have thanked the local community for rallying around them.

The blaze on 24 November devastated the Bridgewood plastic products site in Hessle, near Hull.

Dozens of staff were left without an income and an uncertain future in the run-up to Christmas.

However, the local community donated money and toys and many workers have found new jobs.

Ben Worth, was on the shop floor when the fire broke out and, after making an escape, watched alongside shocked colleagues as the business went up in flames.

"The explosions that were going off was the writing on the wall, to say the factory's down to the ground," he said.

"It was a massive kick in the teeth, it was like a family."

Mr Worth said when the fire alarm sounded staff thought it was just a drill.

"We turned round and we just saw smoke and within a matter of seconds the flames were up and everybody was 'Get out!, get out!' and away we went," he recalled.

The fire devastated the Bridgewood plastics factory

Workers faced a bleak future losing their incomes just before Christmas.

Norman Chappell said he had finished his shift when the fire broke out and watched the blaze from his nearby house.

"I knew that was it. I knew there was no coming back from that," he said.

"I was like everybody else nobody knew what was going on it was all up in the air and right on top of Christmas. It was a scary time."

He praised the local community who gave money and donated Christmas presents for the workers and their families.

"What the community has done is amazing, it restores your faith in humanity," he said.

"It means everything. It's proper community spirit, it's quite emotional, it's quite touching what people have done."

Ben Worth (L) and Norman Chappell (C) have been taken on by double-glazing firm by East Yorkshire Glass

Mr Chappell said he had kept in touch with many of his former colleagues and the "majority of people" had found work elsewhere.

One company that took on workers is East Yorkshire Glass, which has a factory close to the Bridgewood site.

Director John Waugh said the double-glazing firm brought forward expansion plans so they could take on four workers.

"We did see the blaze and the horror that it caused," said Mr Waugh.

"We soon realised very quickly that something quite catastrophic was happening to the livelihood of the workers. We decided to see if we could help."