Black & Decker has announced plans to cut 169 jobs at its factory in Spennymoor, County Durham.
The latest bombshell will leave it with a workforce of around 150 in the north east town - a far cry from just five years ago when the corporate giant employed 1,500.

The move has also raised fears for the future of the company in the area.

A Black & Decker spokesman told a local newspaper that ongoing cost pressures, a competitive environment and reductions in residential construction activity have led to a reappraisal of the company's global manufacturing footprint.

"Operations in Spennymoor have contracted over the past few years and an opportunity exists to consolidate operations within other larger facilities that are more sustainable in the long term," said the spokesman.

The jobs will be shed across the company's operations which include manufacturing, finance, sourcing and human resources.

In 2003, 1,000 jobs were lost after production was moved from Spennymoor to the Czech Republic to reduce costs.