A TOP level employee of a Dursley manufacturing firm drove to the factory in his brand new Ferrari a day after his employees had been told 45 of them would lose their jobs before Christmas.

Consultant and former director Trevor Modell drove to Lister Petter’s facility on Tuesday, November 12, in his new super car, believed to be a Ferrari 458 Italia with a starting price of around £178,000, to the chargin of the workforce.

The news comes after the company has been criticised for its poor management, which has been claimed has resulted in the axing of jobs.

A spokesman from Unite, the union negotiating the employees’ redundancy packages, said it was “insensitive at best” after they had previously failed to improve working conditions at the site because the company had claimed it had little money.

He added that while job losses were expected at the site, the number of redundancies announced was a “shock”.

“Lister Petter has been in a mess for awhile. The union believes this has been a result of bad management over a period of time,” he said.

Unite has said they had negotiated that around 20 of the jobs being lost would be through voluntary redundancies so far.

Those getting compulsory redundancies are expected to be told on Friday next week (December 6).

The firm, which employs 190 staff and has been in Dursley for almost 150 years, expects to finish its relocation to a facility in Hardwicke next year, which is also taking some of the announced cuts.

When asked by the Gazette how one employee could afford such a luxury with a high number of people losing their jobs, and whether it was deemed wise to drive it to the factory, company director Pat Comer only clarified that Mr Modell was working as a consultant for the company.

Mr Comer also confirmed that delays in supplying critical components for its engines recently had impacted short term working, but denied that this had contributed to the job losses.

“The redundancies are as previously advised part of our restructure to ensure that we are best placed to remain competitive and serve our developing markets,” he said.

“The company remains committed to its facility that is in the process of being constructed at Hardwicke and should be available for us to start occupation in the second quarter of 2014.”