HOPES that production could restart at a North-East factory have been dashed, three months after it closed leaving more than 100 people out of work.

Kitchen worktops manufacturer Vertex made the 120-strong workforce at its plant in Shildon, County Durham, redundant in February after calling in receivers.

Only a skeleton staff of 11 was kept on, the last of which is to finish tomorrow.

Last month, workers were offered a glimmer of hope that some jobs might be salvaged by chipboard company Egger UK, of Hexham, Northumberland, which bought most of Vertex's machinery, including the two main production lines.

The firm's parent company, Fritz Egger GmbH, carried out a feasibility study into the possibility of starting up the Shildon plant.

But the company confirmed yesterday that it would not be reviving the plant and is looking for an alternative site in Eastern Europe.

A spokesperson for Egger UK said: "The study found that it is not an economically viable option due to the current market climate within the UK.

"Substantial investment would also be required to meet UK and in-house environmental and health and safety operational levels."

The news is a bitter blow to workers who have not found new jobs yet, in an area where employment opportunities in the manufacturing industry are scarce.

In the past year, hundreds of manufacturing jobs have gone, including 80 at Ohmega Electronics and 70 at Warner Electric, both near Bishop Auckland; 100 at Sloman, 150 at TKA Tallent Chassis and nearly 300 at Sanyo, all Newton Aycliffe. A further 950 are being cut at Black and Decker, in Spennymoor, this year.

A spokesperson for regional development agency One NorthEast said: "It had been hoped initially that the production lines could have become operational again, but this isn't to be the case."