Bathgate to close soon
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
After 25 years' production, Leyland Trucks' Bathgate plant in West Lothian, will soon close with the loss of 1,400 jobs.
The Government has concluded that there is no hope of Leyland securing a life-saving order for the plant in the forseeable future, and a closure announcement is expected at the end of this month.
It appears that the seven month delay in approving BL's corporate plan was unconnected with the Bathgate situation. The privatisation of Jaguar cars seems to have been the main factor.
Once the Government has made its intention known to Leyland, the Scottish Office is expected to make strenuous efforts to find a private buyer for Bathgate. This will be a similar operation to that of Scott Lithgow, the lower Clyde shipbuilder, which was involved in a close-down earlier this year.
Inevitably there was speculation that Nissan could be interested in moving 100 miles north of its proposed production line in North East England. This seems unlikely so late in the day; seven months ago it could have been a possibility.