A FURNITURE charity in Accrington has closed down suddenly leaving staff without work.

Hyndburn Used Furniture Store, based at Fairfield House Industrial Estate in Fairfield Street, shut its doors ‘without warning’.

Four full-time and two part-time staff have been made redundant from the company, which provided a ‘valuable service’, collecting unwanted and unused items.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The charity, which has served Hyndburn for 12 years, carried out 600,000 collections annually and diverted hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill.

Driver supervisor Mark Lawrance, 54, who had worked at the charity for 10 years, said: “We were not kept in the loop over what was happening.

“About a week before we were made redundant, we were told there was no more money in the bank and we could go home if we wanted.”

Staff and volunteers received the news from the chairman recently that they would be closing down.

Mr Lawrance, of Riding Barn Street, in Church, said: “The immediate impact will be felt by residents waiting for furniture to be delivered.“My personal concern was that there had been no communication or consultation whatsoever. There was no warning.”

Chairman Philip Vincent-Barwood said: “HUFS provided bulky waste collection services to Hyndburn Council and Rossendale Council without which we would not survive.

“There was a long period of negotiations with Hyndburn Council over payments that we received for the delivery of the service.

“When they decided that they no longer wished to employ HUFS to deliver the service, there was no choice other than to close.

“We did not know this until the week we closed down.

“We were under an obligation to protect the assets of the business but Staff were aware that we were in difficulty because there were occasions when wages were delayed or not paid in full.

“Making six people redundant was a very difficult thing to do.”

“It is also very upsetting to have to let go of our dedicated volunteers.”

Hyndburn Council is due to collect the backlog of bulky waste that has formed since the charity’s closure.

Deputy mayor Cllr Peter Britcliffe said: “It is very saddening to hear of this.

“Hyndburn Used Furniture Store provided a useful and valuable service.“When I was council leader we always supported this service so it is disappointing to know that the council could not support them to prevent this happening.

“It is disappointing that the board did not appear to explore alternative funding. All in all a sad and sorry story.”