A GROUP of employees who lost their jobs in the wake of the Rover collapse have already found new employment.

Around 40 workers at the DriveDirect firm were left stranded on Thursday when they were told the company had folded with debts amounting to £5 million.

But after days of frantic searching, the workers from the Guardian Street and Kerfoot Street depots have all found jobs at car dealerships elsewhere in the town.

Determined not to be left unemployed for long, the group immediately embarked on a tour of showrooms and garages in a bid to find work.

Steve Coulthard, who has worked as a senior salesman at the Guardian Street depot for the past two years, said the collapse of the company had come as a shock.

He added: "It is not just the staff who have been affected. There are a lot of customers who have been hit by this who will be without cars or repairs to their cars.

"We have not been paid this month - it must be thousands of pounds between us that we are still owed.

"We have worked here for many years and it is terrible the way that it has worked out."

The workers have now been snapped up by other companies in the area.

DriveDirect hit trouble following the collapse of Rover.

The Midlands-based company failed and owes DriveDirect millions of pounds. As a result, the company was unable to pay its bills and then went bankrupt as well.