It is upsetting to read about the collapse of Safestyle UK whose manufacturing factory is in Wombwell near Barnsley, and head office in Bradford, has made nearly 700 staff redundant seven weeks before Christmas (The Yorkshire Post, October 31, 2023).

Surely the senior management should have seen this coming and taken necessary measures to avoid the total collapse of this well established company, which has been around for over 25 years.

One of the reasons stated was lack of or depressed consumer confidence, which could have improved with better customer after sales service, rectifying any faults as soon as possible rather than letting them drag on for weeks or in some cases months.

Safestyle has its head office in Bradford.

Another reason given was low sales figures in September due to it being warm, which is a lame excuse, as these days an 'Indian Summer' is more normal than a colder early autumn month. This will be reflected in previous years September sales figures.

Every building and home improvement firm up and down the UK has been affected by high inflation of raw materials cost. People cannot afford to move to a newer house so they are modifying the house that they live in.

But what I find most upsetting is that the chief executive officer, Rob Neale, sent a message by text informing his staff that the company is ceasing trading with immediate effect on Friday, October 27, 2023.

He could have called a meeting at the Wombwell manufacturing facility on the Friday afternoon at the latest to keep production ongoing, and spoken to his dedicated staff, many of whom had been with the company 20 years and more, and some staff are from the same family.

I hope that many of the workers manage to find work in one of the many factories springing up in the former 'Dearne Valley' mining areas where Manvers and Cudworth and other pits once worked, employing thousands of miners.

Safestyle’s collapse is sad for workers in the region - Yorkshire Post Letters