A skeleton workforce has begun production again at struggling pram firm Silver Cross after it was placed in the hands of an administrator.

And it has been revealed that Ilkley businessman Michael Whittaker is making an 11th hour bid to save the Guiseley company which is fighting for survival.

The company was yesterday put in the hands of administrator Ernst & Young of Leeds which will oversee its running until a new owner is established.

Workers at the Otley Road firm were called to a mass meeting yesterday where directors mapped out the future of the company.

A spokesman for the firm said last night that a skeleton workforce had started making prams again after being laid-off for two weeks.

She confirmed that Mr Whittaker, who lives in Addingham and runs Ilkley-based Mitre Estates, is the leading contender to take over.

She added: "I cannot say how many people are currently working for Silver Cross or what is happening to the remainder of the hundred strong work force at the factory.

"But it looks as if the company is going to continue when some people felt it would almost certainly close."

Mr Whittaker is believed to be a relative of the family which runs the Whittaker's Chocolate Company in Skipton. He previously made his fortune by running a series of Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in the north of England.

He is also known for having run a series of business ventures over the last few years.

Silver Cross has been a major employer in Guiseley for 70 years and was started 122 years ago in Leeds.

The company which makes 35,000 of the 700,000 prams and pushchairs sold annually in Britain has been run by managing director Harry Moore, and sales and marketing director Sara Bird.

Last August the pair rescued the company with a £4m refinancing package led by Venture Finance based in West Sussex which raised £1.5m.

At the time Mr Moore said the deal managed to stop the company's £10m turnover from haemorrhaging.

The company also brought in a range of fashionable consultants to try and stimulate extra sales from new designs and innovative ideas.

But the company continued to struggle because mums preferred lightweight cheaper buggies to the prams and pushchairs Silver Cross were producing.

And despite selling prams to pop and films stars including members of the Spice Girls, not enough were sold to give sales a big enough boost.

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