By Bruce Robbins

ALL 50 ELECTRICIANS made redundant on Tuesday at the Dundee office of DH Morris will be back in new jobs within a week, the company’s ex-project manager confidently predicted last night.

Receivers Ernst & Young yesterday admitted that they botched up the redundancy figures with the final number amounting to 77 and not 48 as originally stated.

About 50 of those who lost their jobs were “sparkies” but their former boss, Charlie Dunstan, said three-quarters of those had already found new employment.

Mr Dunstan, DH Morris’ project manager until the axe fell, said his phone had not stopped ringing for three days as other companies sought to snap up the widely- respected tradesmen.

The Dundee branch of DH Morris was one of 13 companies in the group that went into receivership with the initial loss of 405 jobs after a review of operations revealed a black hole of several million pounds.

Joint receiver Colin Dempster revealed on Wednesday that one of the businesses—in Cumbernauld—had been transferred to new ownership protecting the jobs of 46 staff.

Mr Dunstan said that although the Dundee branch, which he claimed was by far the most profitable in the group, had not had a similar lucky break, it would not be long before those who lost their jobs are in work again.

He said, “This isn’t like an NCR situation where the work is going elsewhere. Here, the work still has to be done. The Dundee branch of DH Morris had a massive order book worth millions of pounds.

“We had a great team and I knew they wouldn’t have too much of a problem finding work. DH Morris carried no passengers: they were all good men who would be an asset to any company.

“Any company worth its salt will take DH Morris sparkies in a heartbeat. Some of our guys had jobs the next day.

“Rather than having to look for a job, I have to sit down and consider where I want to go and, wherever I end up, most of my options involve bringing some of the guys with me.”

Mr Dunstan said the nature of the receivership was still a mystery to him and other DH Morris employees.

He said the overwhelming feeling was that Dundee had been dragged into the group’s financial troubles, which had been caused by other branches of the operation.

He added, “Dundee was the most profitable branch in the group and we had two years’ worth of orders on the books.

“Ernst & Young said they could not sell Dundee as a going concern as it was sub-contracting company and its value only depended on bits of paper but these were worth millions of pounds.

“In the last eight years, we have made a tremendous profit and are a well-respected company. There were 13 companies in the group and two of them dragged it down.

“It had been our belief that if a branch was trading badly, it would be wound up without affecting the good branches. It appears it was the Bank of Scotland that pulled the plug.

“We just can’t understand why a profitable company has gone and will never return.”

A few staff have been retained in Dundee whilst the company is wound up but the receivers could give no indication of when the branch would finally close.

Ernst & Young said on Tuesday there would be 48 redundancies but this was yesterday raised to 77. A spokeswoman admitted the gaffe, confirming that receivers had in fact miscalculated the redundancy figures for Dundee.

She said, “We would like to apologise for this mistake, in the rush to answer as many questions as possible and provide information for employees and the media there has been a miscalculation.”

With hundreds of posts being axed by DH Morris across Scotland and the north of England, it is anticipated that the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment project will also put together a national response plan.