BOSSES at a doomed North-East engineering firm yesterday rejected claims that a rescue package had been offered.

The Torrington Engineering plant, on Darlington's Yarm Road industrial estate, is to be phased out over the next year with the loss of 104 jobs.

But last week's announcement was followed by claims from regional development agency One NorthEast that it had submitted a proposal to Torrington which could have saved jobs.

The agency said that at the beginning of the year it had made an offer to help the company relocate to "more cost-effective premises, elsewhere in the Tees Valley, so avoiding closure".

But Darlington plant manager Andy Dillon said that no concrete offer was ever laid on the table which could have rescued the company.

He said One NorthEast had made a bid for the site on January 10 which would have enabled Darlington College of Technology to move there - but the offer was nowhere near enough to fund Torrington's relocation.

"Throughout the course of last year we were looking to relocate to facilities that would help reduce our cost base," he said.