9 January 2008

Friction / Ferodo site sold - but is there a twist?

Bluefield Land and Twenty20 homes have purchased the old Ferodo site this week, the new company is to be called Bluefield Caernarfon , but Caernarfon Online has been told that the car park was not owned by former plant owner Craig Smith.

If this is indeed the case then has the purchase of this gone through as well?

The car park was used by a local garage for storage and it is unclear if this was made a part of the deal.
If not, then a substantial part of the site has not been made available for development.

Ferotech Realty - a company owned by Craig Smith were owners prior to the sale of the plant this week.

Workers and Union officials told us this week that part of the payment for the plant should be given as compenstation to the old workforce.

Craig Smith is a shrewed business man with strong principles, he has held back from paying any compensation to the unfairly sacked workers at Friction Dynamics even after thay won an industrial tribunal.

There are also other concerns that the site is contaminated with asbestos, and therefore unsuitable for building homes, (if that is indeed the plan by these two South Wales companies).

(The 86 workers were unfairly sacked in 2001 and picketed outside the factory for three years. The workers never received a penny from the company as it went into administration in August 2003.)