A Darlington car dealership looks set to buy part of crisis-hit South Cleveland Garages.

Williamson Motors was yesterday aiming to finalise the purchase of SCG's Hartlepool operation.

Simon Williamson, managing director, also hopes to offer jobs to all those made redundant at Hartlepool as SCG collapsed. His firm - a Peugeot dealership - has already taken part in a bid to find jobs for the 350 people made redundant.

For Williamson Motors, the move ends a two-year quest for expansion.

"We more or less have the Peugeot franchise for Hartlepool. But the details are not quite sorted," Mr Williamson said on Wednesday.

In the short term he plans to occupy rented premises in what was the SCG Citroen dealership.

"We have been looking to expand for some time now since moving into Spennymoor, which has been a great success.

"We have had three failed attempts at expansion so when this came along out of the blue - albeit in sad circumstances - we grabbed it."

The Williamson move came as dealerships across the region were urged to help find new jobs for the SCG workers by Ingenia, a firm which specialises in placing staff.

The shock insolvency of SCG has meant staff at its eight branches in Hartlepool, Darlington and Middlesbrough are now looking for jobs.

The fall of SCG has been blamed on the firm's former accountant Mary Blair, 55, who was jailed earlier this yea after admitting stealing more than £750,000 from PMB Motors in Darlington, later taken over by South Cleveland Garages.