SIX members of the same family are among more than 80 people who have lost their jobs after part of a Westbury firm went out of business.

Spectra Coach Building went into voluntary liquidation on Thursday. Six members of the Pearce family helped run the company, including chairman Andrew, who helped start it in 1981 when there were just five employees.

Most of the redundancies will be made at the firm's Brook Lane production site on the West Wilts Trading Estate, which opened last year to meet customer demand.

Mr Pearce said: "The coach building side has gone into voluntary liquidation. The engineering side will not be affected by it and is continuing trading."

The Spectra Group is split across three sites on the estate, and builds vehicles of varying sizes for Formula One racing teams, including Benetton, Jaguar and Jordan, and television companies including Carlton, the BBC and ITV.

It was producing between 16 and 32 vehicles every year, costing anything from £30,000 to £1m each. The vehicles were used as hospitality and exhibition units, for transporting racing cars, and as outside broadcasting units.

Nigel Morrison, who is a partner in Grant Thornton chartered accountants, is acting as the liquidator.

He said: "The resolution to go into voluntary liquidation was passed by the shareholders.

"The coach building part of the business has been suffering for a while, but has declined rapidly in the last month or so.

"The chairman said there are two reasons for the collapse: the breakdown of ITV Digital has meant that broadcasting companies are looking more closely at their budgets, and a number of Formula One teams are experiencing financial difficulties.

"The company has just finished a major contract for McClaren, but there was nothing in the order book to replace the work."

Because Spectra Coach Building has no money, none of the staff will receive any redundancy pay.

Mr Morrison said: "No redundancy was paid because this part of the business is insolvent and is unable to pay any. People will be able to make a claim against them, and the Department of Trade and Industry will pay a certain proportion on behalf of the company."

Mr Morrison is now looking to sell the company's assets so all its creditors can be paid.

He said: "Although it has ceased trading, there is nothing to prevent anyone from acquiring all their assets and starting again."

Councillor Jeff Osborn, West Wiltshire District Council economic development portfolio holder, said: "There is grave concern. It was a good company with good skills and the sort of firm the local area needs.

"The truth is that times are getting hard out there now. There is a lot of gloss linked to house prices and everybody thinks they are OK but in the real world, in the manufacturing sector, things are nasty."