The steel crisis: all you need to know about steel-making in the North East

Steel making in the north east has a turbulent history, but it's part of the fabric, history and heritage of the North East economy.

• British Steel was privatised in 1988. The UK's steel workforce then stood at 55,000.

• 11 years later that workforce had been halved following recession and British Steel merged with a dutch company to form Corus.

• Corus was taken over by Indian firm Tata Steel in 2007 and that's when the more recent troubles in the North East started to emerge.

• In 2010, 1700 jobs were lost as Tata stopped production in Redcar.

• Two years later Thai firm SSI relit the furnace, but it wouldn't last.

• By 2015 the company paused production due to a worldwide decline in steel prices.

• SSI was mothballed and the coke ovens were extinguished forever.

• Around 3,000 staff and contractors lost their jobs.

• Tata then pulled out of the UK steel industry altogether - selling to private equity firm Greybull Capital.

• Rebranding under the famous British Steel name Greybull saved 4,000 jobs, including 700 at Teesside plants in Lackenby and Skinningrove.

• It initially returned to profit, but now British Steel is to go into official receivership.