Tyne Valley Plastics
L-R Gill Rice, MD, Tyne Valley Plastics; Guy Opperman MP; Harry Rice, Director, Tyne Valley Plastics; Allan Creedy, Federation of Small Businesses
A plastic injection moulder based in the North of England has told a local MP how it is has recovered from the devastation of flooding as a result of Storm Desmond late last year.
Representatives at Tyne Valley Plastics, based in Northumberland, told Guy Opperman MP how the business was submerged in two feet of water during the storms, after the run-off from the River Tyne overwhelmed its drainage systems.
“The water was everywhere – the offices, the stores, the shop floor,” explained Gill Rice, Managing Director of Tyne Valley Plastics. “It was devastation, but we had to pick ourselves up and start making arrangements quickly – all without the benefit of power, landlines or computers.”
The company arranged for sub-contractors to help maintain production says no customers were let down during the three months of disruption that followed the storm.
After the recovery operation that is estimated to have cost between £200,000 and £300,000, the company’s factory in Low Prudhoe is now back to full in-house production.
Mr Opperman MP spent 90 minutes at the firm, along with the Federation of Small Businesses. Opperman expressed his concern at the affect the storm had on Tyne Valley Plastics, which has not experienced flooding in the 21 years it has been established at the site.