A Shropshire councillor is hoping he can help support any of the 83 staff who have lost their jobs at Hawk Plant Hire after administrators were called in.

Three administrators from Ernst & Young (EY) have been called into the business to find a buyer, which is based just of the A49 and has a training base in Sandford Industrial Park on the A41.

Paul Wynn, Shropshire councillor for Prees, said he was disappointed to hear the news on Tuesday morning and hopes businesses around Whitchurch and Prees may be able to step in and help.

"If it is the Sandford site, where the training is carried out, and the site in Prees Green, then obviously we need to be worried," he said.

"With the loss of the jobs, it's devastating for the area around Whitchurch and it will be a sad loss.

"I will be trying to act as a liaison for the people who have lost their jobs and any businesses in the area that will be able to pick up the slack.

"I'm disappointed for the staff who have lost their jobs and hope there are some of our local businesses who can take over the business at Hawk and re-employ the staff almost immediately.

"I obviously give all of the staff affected at Hawk my best wishes as something gets sorted out."

Sam Woodward, Alex Williams and Hunter Kelly of EY’s restructuring team were appointed Joint Administrators of Hawk Plant (UK) Limited and its subsidiaries Hawk Plant Hire Limited, Hawk Hire Limited, Safety and Training Limited, Hawk Plant Limited, and Hawk Plant Sales Limited.

The group is one of the largest independent plant hire companies in the UK, with a turnover of £93.5m in the financial year to the end of December 2017.

It has more than 40 years of experience in the plant hire industry, with its customer base primarily spanning the infrastructure, energy and homebuilding markets.

Woodward said: “The group’s cashflow had been impacted by a number of historical problematic contracts and a delay in the commencement of anticipated projects.

"Coupled with this, the group’s funding structure, with significant hire purchase and finance lease commitments put pressure on the cashflow at a time that asset utilisation was comparatively low”.

On appointment of the administrators, 83 of the group’s c.420 employees were made redundant.

Woodward added: “We will now begin the process of seeking to find a suitable buyer for Hawk, to ensure the best possible outcome for all of the Group’s stakeholders.

"In the meantime, we will seek to minimise the impact on the customer base by keeping assets on hire and maintaining service levels.”

Employees affected by redundancy are being offered appropriate advice and support in making claims from the Redundancy Payments Office for outstanding wages, as well as redundancy and notice pay.

Any parties interested in acquiring Hawk or its subsidiaries should contact the Joint Administrators.