WORKERS at a North-East factory have been forced to work in freezing temperatures for the last two weeks, despite specialising in making furnaces.

Clinotherm staff have endured the bitter cold on the shop floor because the gas has been turned off amid claims the landlord had not paid the bill.

The company is based on an industrial estate, the former Ever Ready Site, at Tanfield Lea, near Stanley, County Durham, which is earmarked for a housing development.

New premises have been found for around a dozen firms currently on the site, but Clinotherm company secretary Tracey Walton said they still have no idea where they will be moving to.

She said the gas was disconnected on Monday, March 18.

Ms Walton said: “We have been working in below freezing temperatures, which is completely unacceptable in this day and age.

“As our current lease does not expire until mid September we should not be treated in this manner.”

The company, one of the market leaders in thermal process heavy engineering, has interests around the world and is exporting expertise to its American operations.

But workers have been forced to wrap up in hats and gloves after the heating was turned off.

Ms Walton said she has been told the bill has since been paid, but there is still no heating and they have no idea when it will be put back on.

She added: “In the office, we have got an electric heater, which is costing us a fortune to run, but for the poor lads on the factory floor it is freezing.

“We are spending a fortune on propane burners and it is not as if we have not paid our bills to them. It is ridiculous.”

Esh Developments hopes to build 365 houses on the former Ever Ready Site, at Tanfield Lea, near Stanley, where 12 businesses employ about 185 people.

The multi-million-pound project involves creating new bases for most of the businesses at Harelaw Industrial Estate, near Annfield Plain, but the future for Clinotherm remains unclear.

Ms Walton said the landlord is Selected Properties, which is based in Salford, near Manchester, and they deal with them via Hetherington Property Services.

No-one was available for comment at Selected Properties and Hetherington Property Services declined to respond when contacted by The Northern Echo.