THE first round of redundancies has taken place at factory making TV cabinets.

Managers are reported to have said that "only a miracle" could save the plant, owned by Acre Products, from closure.

Last month, workers at the Darlington factory were told it would close by June, with the loss of more than 80 jobs.

The family business, which is based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, has a factory at Faverdale.

About 30 workers were selected for redundancy last week and asked to leave immediately.

Another 50 workers will continue working at the site until a closure date is announced. Managers have been unable to give unions or staff a closure date because of problems moving production to the Keighley factory.

The company made 17 workers redundant last year in an attempt to save money while other markets were explored. That followed the loss of a contract with major customer Panasonic.

The Panasonic contract is believed to have gone to a company in Malaysia, where labour is cheaper.

Jackie Woodall, of the GMB union, said she had tried to explore options with the company other than closure, but it was set on shutting its Darlington operation.

She said: "The workers were selected and then sent home.

"They are now due to start on the procedure for redundancies for the second group of people to go.

"The first group have not been at work for a while now.

"The next lot will be the last, but the date isn't a definite date yet. We are hoping the company will come to us with a date so people know what they are doing and can start looking for other jobs.

"But because of the production, which is going to the Keighley factory, there are some problems there, so they can't give us a date yet.

"We are expecting that to be June or July, but giving an exact date is out of the company's control just at the moment."

The Northern Echo contacted Acre Products last night, but the company declined to comment.