ABOUT 100 staff at collapsed tyre manufacturer C-Tyres have lost their jobs, it was confirmed last night.

The employees, who have not been able to work at the County Durham factory for almost two weeks, will receive redundancy letters this morning.

Sunderland specialists Tenon Recovery officially took control of C-Tyres yesterday.

It has decided not to trade the company while in administration and hopes to sell the business.

Managing director Gary Oliver told The Northern Echo of his disappointment yesterday.

He said: "C-Tyres has now officially gone into administration.

"The bad news is that they are not intending to trade the company while in administration."

"Everybody is being made redundant today. The letters will go in the post tonight and they will get them on Friday morning.

"They (Tenon) are still going to try to sell the business as a going concern, but if we're not trading, I don't know how they'll do that.

"This sort of thing is not my decision - it is the decision of the administrator."

C-Tyres was forced to close 12 days ago after the landlord of its premises on the Littleburn Industrial Estate, in Langley Moor, County Durham, served it with a forfeiture notice following a dispute over rent payment.

At the time, the company said it was hopeful that the matter would be quickly resolved and it would be operational again in days.

By the end of last week, CTyres had called in Tenon and filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator.

At the time, Mr Oliver said he hoped to come to an agreement with the landlord to allow the company to resume trading while a buyer was being found.

Earlier this week, Mr Oliver said he had been in talks with people interested in taking over the firm and parties interested in buying its equipment.

Mr Oliver and finance director Peter Morris formed C-Tyres six years ago after buying the assets of Colway Tyres and its sister company, Motorway Retreads.

Company turnover doubled to £6m in that period.

● Are you a customer affected by the collapse of C-Tyres? Contact The Northern Echo on 01325- 505097 to tell your story.