Skelmersdale firm buoyed by 15m contract

Skelmersdale’s Karl Vella Group has won a new £15m contract.

The company says the three-year deal means that as well as securing jobs, it will now be taking on more people.

David Vella, group operations director, said: “This is fantastic news for Skelmersdale and West Lancashire as a whole.

“At this time of year, body shops like ours tend to have less work because people have fewer accidents, meaning we usually start winding down for the summer. But this new £15m contract means that far from winding down, we’ll be bringing an extra 300 new orders through our doors every month – more than 10,000 over the three year contract period.

“The new work means that not only have we not only secured jobs and opportunities for our current staff, we will now be on the hunt for highly skilled painters, mechanics, panel beaters and trimmers. We’re hopeful that up to 10 new jobs will be created at our Skelmersdale HQ as a direct result of this contract win, which is with a major insurance company.”

Karl Vella, who founded the company in 1986, added: “I am pleased that, in our 26th year of trading, we are continuing to grow and invest. These are tough times for the economy, and the autobody repair industry is no different.

“But by working hard, we are managing to buck the trend and are continuing to deliver new jobs in the communities we serve.”