Workers 'paid before Christmas'

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All employees of bankrupt County Antrim firm Reid Transport will be paid before Christmas, the administrator has said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said it had held discussions with stakeholders in an attempt to end the workers' blockade of the firm's site in Cloughmills.

The firm collapsed last week with the loss of 200 jobs. The administrator said the offer of paying owed wages was unconditional.

Holiday pay and statutory redundancy would be paid "as soon as possible".

Garth Calow from PricewaterhouseCoopers said: "All ex-Reid employees, over the age of 16 years and on the company payroll as at 5:00pm on Wednesday 21 November, will be paid arrears of wages before Christmas, subject to the statutory maximum of £310 per week."

He added: "All payments will be made direct to ex-employees by the Redundancy Payments Service.

"I hope this clear and categorical statement will persuade ex-employees to lift their blockade of the site and let me secure company assets on behalf of the creditors, who include the ex-employees and sub-contractors."

Meanwhile, a teenager has claimed that, at the age of 14, he worked nights at Reid's, before getting up for school the next day.

The police are investigating allegations that Reid Transport was using child labour before it went into administration.