WESTFORD Plastics and Engineering Limited, located in Blackdown Business Park in Wellington, has gone bust after almost six decades of trading, Thea Phillips writes.

The manufacturing and engineering firm, established in 1964, has gone into liquidation.

Westford Plastics made and sold PVC, acrylics, polycarbonate, polypropylene, and many other similar products.

Laurence Cross, the company’s director of over 20 years, had been wrangling with financial issues throughout his tenure.

Westford Plastics had racked up nearly £300,000 worth of debt with its creditors, and owed money to suppliers, finance firms, and transport companies.

In the run up to collapse, the firm was highly leveraged, with £1.64 in debt for every £1 in assets – well in excess of what experts agree is a sound debt ratio.

Mr Cross proposed a creditor’s voluntary liquidation due to the company's inability to pay the debts. This early proposal signifies an avoidance of forced liquidation, which may have soon been on the cards for Westford Plastics.

The liquidation was approved by shareholders, before the firm was handed over to insolvency practitioners at Leonard Curtis.

Throughout its 59 years of business, Westford Plastics employed as many as 20 members of staff.

At the time of its liquidation, six employees remained in work at the site, all of whom lost their jobs.

Liquidation of the firm is now underway, and is expected to take as long as two years to conclude.

The Wellington Weekly has attempted to reach Mr Cross for comment but he could not be reached.