Job losses announced at Leamington engineering company

Redundancies have been made at a Leamington engineering company.

Ricardo, based in Radford Semele, said it has had to make the changes due to changes in the automotive market and the effects of Covid-19.

It is not clear how many jobs will go - the company says about 100 roles will be lost across all it centres in the UK and Europe, with maybe 30 going in Leamington (which employs 375 people).

But one worker at the Leamington site said staff expect that number to be higher.

The company which offers consultancy services and manufacturing for the automotive industry, said it would confirm the numbers as the process continues.

A spokesperson for Ricardo, which has its Midlands Technical Centre (MTC) office based in Leamington, said: "As we seek to respond to the economic downturn in the European automotive market and the COVID-19 pandemic and change the mix of our engineering services so that we can better support our customers develop sustainable transport and energy, we have entered into a period of consultation which will consider the possible reduction up approximately 100 roles within our engineering and business support teams in the UK and mainland Europe.

"These changes support our strategy of making our business fit for future growth by investing in our people, our facilities and our capabilities in electrification, alternative fuels such as hydrogen, and across a much broader range of vehicles and transport sectors.

"Until the consultation is completed, we will not be making any final decisions, and we will be actively supporting our people during this process."