Thousands of jobs shunted by train firm
CANADIAN train manufacturer Bombardier has revealed plans to axe as many at 1,400 jobs in the UK, in a bitter blow to British industry.
The company has said it would cut 446 permanent jobs and 983 temporary jobs from its 3,000-strong workforce in Derby, after it missed out on a Thameslink contract.
Bombardier – the only remaining train builder in Britain – said all its contracts, except for carriages for some London Underground lines, would be complete by the end of September. It added that it had launched a 90-day review into possible job cuts.
Bombardier lost out on a contract to build carriages as part of a £6bn upgrade of Thameslink last month, after the government announced German firm Siemens as the preferred bidder for the work.
Business secretary Vince Cable (pictured) yesterday launched an “economic response task force” to handle the job losses with Bombardier.
“I am very disappointed,” he said.
He added that the government would look at European Union procurement rules, which have been blamed for being one of the reasons why Siemens beat Bombardier to the Thameslink contract.
“We recognise that there is a need to examine the wider issue of whether the UK is making best use of the application of the EU procurement rules,” he said.