A bid to rescue a doomed woollen mill has collapsed leaving 260 jobs on the line.

An Indonesian textile company negotiating a takeover of W&J Whitehead has pulled out of the deal leaving the Laisterdyke company with just four weeks work left.

Today union spokesman Nick Halton said the collapse meant that even if a new white knight came in to save the company it was unlikely any deal could be brokered before Whitehead's order books dried up.

Mr Halton, regional industrial organiser for the Transport and General Workers' Union, said: "It's a shock because this company seemed to going ahead with the takeover.

"There have been several companies which expressed an interest but one by one they dropped out, except this firm. And it seemed things were progressing well until they pulled out.''

Trouble at the mill first came to light in July when the 143-year-old company announced it had called in the receivers. Staff had been on reduced working hours since March with the first 200 workers losing their jobs at the start of August, and a further 112 were released at the end of the month.

The remaining workers, mostly spinners, were told at the time by Tenon Recovery, the receivers, there was between five and ten weeks work remaining. Mr Halton said: "From the outset we have been optimistic and there is still a possibility someone could buy the business.

"But with two to four weeks work left there isn't enough to keep people going until the orders are completed.

"And once the mill closes it's going to be much harder to reopen it."

Whitehead was Bradford's biggest remaining wool textile mill and one of only two remaining wool combers in the country.

Last year it merged with Bradford firms Woolcombers and Daniel Illingworth to better utilise its manufacturing capacity but a depressed worldwide economy, especially in America, put an end to any hopes of continued trading.