Government responds to LDV petition

THE GOVERNMENT has responded to a petition on the 10 Downing Street website, demanding action be taken to save vehicle manufacturer LDV.

The petition, which was created as the company teetered towards closure last year, was signed by over 4,500 people.

It called for the government to make “millions of pound in loans to secure its future” which it said “would tide it over while it presses ahead with plans for a management buy-out.”

LDV had previously provided 5,000 jobs in the UK, including 900 at its plant in Washwood Heath, Birmingham, as well as supporting numerous suppliers in the region.

The company hit major problems in 2008 and ceased production. Protracted efforts to save it followed, but the company was judged to be unviable and it entered administration in June 2009.

Several more months of protests and efforts to save the business ensued, at one point campaigners were incensed when a planned lobby of Parliament was cancelled because of a Cabintet reshuffle by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 

Despite campaigner pressure to the contrary, its assets were finally sold by the administrators PwC to Eco Concept, a Chinese company, last October.

The petition was closed last month and now the government has responded.

In a statement the Government said: “The Government did all it reasonably could to support LDV, including offering a one-off £5m bridging loan facility in the hope that the company could be sold as a going concern to a potential investor, Weststar.  

“It was disappointing that, despite the bridging facility, Weststar was unable to proceed with its purchase of LDV.”