Family business rising from ashes of £3m building blaze

The fire at DTS Environmental in Shaw Lane, Carlton, in September 2010 destroyed not only the building itself but also bespoke recycling machinery which had been especially designed and built for DTS in Holland.

The factory was razed to the ground and, as a result, 20 employees had to be made redundant.

Managing director Paul Thackray, who was abroad at the time of the blaze, said when he got back he came close to closing the family business – but couldn’t do it.

He said: “My dad started the business in 1955 and I didn’t want to be the one to close it.”

Mr Thackray and commercial manager Robert Skelton instead set about reorganising the firm and have now gone back to one of its original activities – skip hire.

Ten jobs have been preserved and there are also plans to now rebuild the recycling side of the business.

Mr Thackray added: “After the fire some people thought we’d gone out of business.

“The fire was a setback, that’s all. The skip hire business is doing well and we intend to refurbish and reopen the recycling business as soon as we can.”