JOBS are under threat at a mechanical and electrical company which worked on the construction of the new Heath School in Runcorn - after the collapse of Carillion Construction earlier this year.

Family-run Vaughan Engineering Ltd, which was the principal sub-contractor on several projects run by Carillion, currently employs 30 people at its Warrington site.

The staff are now at risk of redundancy as well as 130 others at two sites in Broxburn and Newcastle.

Vaughan Engineering had been working for Carillion on a number of projects, including the Heath School on Clifton Road.

Work on the school was completed last December and the building has been handed over to the Education and Skills Authority.

Staff and pupils moved into the new building in January but Vaughan Engineering has still not been paid more than £300,000 for the work which was carried out.

The company is currently owed more than £600,000 for work which they had completed for Carillion and, prior to the collapse, they had been contracted for a further £1.1 million in work for this quarter.

Gavin Vaughan, finance director, described it as 'devastating news for all of the people who work for Vaughan Engineering'.

He said: “We are a family-owned firm and have been working in England and Scotland for the past 50 years.

"This is a terrible blow not just for all of the individuals and their families but also for the local economy.

"We have three sites in England and Scotland employing 160 people and paying more than £6 million annually in salaries and hundreds of thousands more in rates and to our many suppliers.

"I think sadly it is inevitable that several of those suppliers will also be seriously impacted.

“We have tried everything we can to save our business.

"This is particularly ironic in the case of the Heath School, where we have been asked to honour a clause in our contract which would mean we would be responsible for several years for warranty and maintenance of the work which we carried out should any problems occur, yet we haven’t even been paid for the installation.

"It is especially painful for all of us involved in this to know that none of it is our fault.

"At Vaughan Engineering we have always taken great pride in what we do; just last week we received another two industry awards.

"We did the work we were commissioned to do, to our usual extremely high standard and as usual we completed it on time and to budget, yet this is the result.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We are working with the schools and local authorities that have capital contracts with Carillion and will support relevant bodies to minimise disruption to public services.

"Information is published online by the Insolvency Service for creditors and suppliers affected and seeking advice.”