DURSLEY company Lister Petter has made 19 of its workers redundant today in the first stage of its administration.

CBA Insolvency Practitioners had been brought in to deal with the debt-laden engineering firm on Thursday and today 19 employees left the company as it seeks a buyer to save it from liquidation.

The troubled business had already made around 77 staff redundant in the last few months but it has seemingly not been enough to keep the company, which has presided in Dursley for almost 150 years and employed 5,000 people at its height, afloat.

UNITE the Union regional officer Trevor Hall told the Gazette there may be more redundancies before the end.

“It is sad news. It is coming in day by day really,” he said.

“In a couple of weeks it could be the end of the company.”

Mr Hall said the administrator had told him the company’s £20million order book would be attractive to potential buyers, but the sheer amount of debt the company owes, which he would not disclose, would put people off.

“All the administrator would tell me is that the company owes a lot of money,” he said.

“He said their £20million order book could be attractive, but who would take it on with that kind of debt?”

The 19 people who lost their jobs today will have to apply to the Government to receive their redundancy money as the company cannot afford it.