Jobs under threat as Alston steel plant goes into administration

More than 60 jobs are at risk after a steel company with a base in Cumbria went into administration.

Bondshold Ltd - which has sites in Crook, County Durham, and Alston, has called in administrators after suffering problems in the wider steel market.

The Group manufactures steel and high-chrome iron castings. It currently has 219 employees. Bonds Precision Castings, which is part of that group, has operated in Alston since 1947 and employs 60 people.

Clare Boardman and Adrian Berry, restructuring partners at Deloitte, have today been appointed as Joint Administrators to Bondshold Ltd. This comes at a time when the Group enters its Christmas holiday shut-down period.

This will give the Joint Administrators a chance to find a buyer for the company.

Ms Boardman said: "The business is well-known and long established so we remain hopeful that a buyer can still be found for all or parts of it."

The UK steel sector is suffering from major challenges that has seen the liquidation of British Steel.

High energy prices and business rates, as well as cheap imports from China, have affected the UK steel industry.

Related articles:

• West Cumbrian job losses avoided following collapse of British Steel

• Hundreds of Cumbrian jobs at risk as British Steel goes into receivership

• Government criticised for allowing British Steel to collapse into insolvency