Redundancy gives workers opportunity to go it alone

Martin Laverick decided to take voluntary redundancy from the power tool manufacturer's Spennymoor plant in County Durham following two years of speculation over its future.

He used the cash, along with a £1,000 grant from the European Grants Council, to go on a 12-week training course in accident investigation.

With qualifications from national company Direct Claims under his belt, he set up his own firm, Goldstar Investigators. He said: "I never saw myself staying with Black & Decker for as long as I did, 12 years, but it offered me the security I needed for a mortgage.

"When Black & Decker started to ask for voluntary redundancy that security was gone, so I decided to try something else, found accident investigation interesting, so went for it."

Being his own boss is ideal for Mr Laverick, as he enjoys working from his Ferryhill home - which allows him more time with four-year-old daughter Charlotte.

He said: "I'm enjoying managing my own time and my partner, Caroline, is pleased to have me at home so she has been able to return to work in finance.

"It seems like a risk, but a career change isn't that difficult. I was a trained chef for six months before starting at Black & Decker and was pleased I made the move then. It's the same now."

The 35-year-old is confident that any one of the Black & Decker workers facing redundancy from the Spennymoor factory, which will axe 950 jobs by the end of next year, could follow in his footsteps.

Mr Laverick said: "There was speculation there for years so people have been thinking about what they could do and so many have ideas that could work.

"There will probably be jobs lost across the area as work dries up for suppliers, but there are opportunities and support available to find new jobs or set up on their own.

"The Northern Echo's Working For A Future campaign could give people the confidence to follow up their ideas and see that it can work out for the better."