75 jobs go at Lancing firm

Employees at Coloplast on the Lancing Business Park were given the pre-Christmas shocker news this week. One who wanted to remain anonymous told the Lancing Herald: "As far as we know, up to 75 jobs are going and the firm is closing at the end of December. Everyone is devastated."

The firm in Peter Road is a subsidiary of the Danish company Colopast, which manufactures and sells medical products. It was founded in 1957 in Denmark and employs 6,000 people worldwide.

When the Herald contacted the company's head office in Peterborough, a spokeswoman refused to comment on the news.

But a statement on the firm's website given to the Stock Exchange last month said production from the Lancing site would finish by the end of December and 75 employees would be affected by the closure.

A review had indicated that the operation in Lancing was not financially viable.

The site, which was acquired by Coloplast in June this year, manufactures continence and ostomy products.

It will be closed down by March, 2007. Coloplast said it would help those who would lose their jobs to find new work elsewhere.