SHOCKED staff at Oxford Menswear in Emery Gate, Chippenham, who were given just a few hours notice that they were losing their jobs, say their bosses have now vanished without paying them money owed.

Manager Simon Moore, 26, and assistant manager, Sonia Few, said they were expecting a stock delivery on the morning of February 6, but instead got their marching orders.

Ms Few, who is expecting her first child on February 28, and was due to go on maternity leave on January 31, broke down in tears when a representative of Alex Made, the company which operates Oxford Menswear, told her to close the shop at 5.30pm.

The 25-year-old from London Road in Chippenham, who has been working at the store for 18 months, now has no idea whether she will receive maternity benefit and faces the birth of her child with no income.

Manager Mr Moore, who has been with the store since it opened two and half years ago, said: "We just could not believe what we were hearing.

"We were told that the shop owed three months rent to Emery Gate and that we had to close.

"Stock levels had been low over Christmas and when we rang to ask if we were getting more. We were told the suppliers were on holiday, so I suppose we should have known something strange was going on then."

"But even though we did what they wanted and closed up, we've been unable to contact them about the money we're owed.

"We don't know if we're going to get the redundancy owed to us and we haven't even been given our P45s.

"I've managed to sign on, but Sonia, who has been told she isn't entitled to any benefits, is really going to struggle."

Ms Few said her former bosses added insult to injury by making them stay on until 5.30pm and sell the remainder of the shop's stock for £1 an item.

"The company had been told by the bailiffs that they couldn't remove any stock, so they told us to sell it all off cheap," she said.

"So we had to stand there all afternoon, with queues of people, chuffed they were getting bargains, while we knew we were going to be jobless."

Ms Few added: "I've heard people complaining they didn't know about the sell-off and how they missed a bargain, but what about me? I've been paying in for my maternity for months, but now I've got a baby coming and no money to buy even things like a baby bath."

Mr Moore said: "We've phoned the company's head office in Hampshire, we've written letters and even faxed, but now the head office number says it's out of service".

A spokesman from DTZ, the Bristol-based agent which acts on behalf of Emery Gate landlords, Lone Eagle, confirmed that the company had fled after running up rent arrears and that the matter was now being pursued.