The shock closure of a popular Bradford nursery left ten members of staff jobless and parents with nowhere to send their children today.

Parents were given less than four days to make alternative arrangements after receiving letters saying the Albion House Nursery in Greengates would not re-open after the holidays.

Several members of staff, who were told by letter on December 31 they were losing their jobs, have claimed their pay cheques bounced last month.

Staff at the Stockhill Road site have been desperately trying to contact owners Rob and Lisa Marcham, whom they have not seen since Christmas Eve.

Today Mr and Mrs Marcham were unavailable at the annexe where they lived. Mr Marcham is on sick leave from his job as a teacher at Rosebank Primary School in Leeds.

Situated in a large detached building Albion House has been open for three years and catered for around 35 youngsters aged up to four. Parents paid between £83.50 and £96.50 a week. The letter to parents apologised for any inconvenience and blamed continuing financial losses for the closure.

Five-months pregnant nursery assistant Donna Hall, 19, of Wrose, who joined Albion House straight from school in 1996, said: "They must have known things were going wrong a long time ago and if they'd let us know then, it would have given us and the parents time to look for something else.''

A 19-year-old nursery nurse, who asked not to be named and had her £575 December pay cheque returned by her bank, said: "I'm overdrawn now and am just going to have to look for another job, which will be quite difficult."

One parent, a 41-year-old doctor whose two-year-old son was at the nursery, said: "We both work, have no relatives locally and relied on them entirely for childcare."

A spokesman for Bradford Council social services said: "If parents contact us on Bradford 757960 we will provide them with details of other local nurseries."

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