14 out of 16 staff set to be made redundant at Bridgnorth Cliff Railway

The funicular railway was forced to close last month as a result of a deteriorating wall on a neighbouring council property which posed a serious safety risk to the railway.

Director of the railway, Dr Malvern Tipping, has since called in solicitors over the threat to jobs and fears that repair work to the wall might not begin until after Easter.

One of the staff members who has been made redundant told the Shropshire Star: “I’m devastated honestly. Only the manager and the engineer are staying, everyone else is going.

“We closed at noon on December 21 when an engineer from the council visited us. He looked at the wall and told us to stop immediately. He said, ‘you have to stop, it’s too dangerous. I can’t make it safe’.

Commenting on the redundancies, director of the railway Malvern Tipping said: “We’ve begun stage one of consultations for redundancy and 14 out of 16 staff members are set to be made redundant.

“Our engineer Barry Evans has spoken to staff members, many of whom look forward to when they can resume their jobs – if the town council can repair the wall.

“The redundancies are a result of the town council failing to come up with a way to cover the cost of staff wages.”

Spokesperson for Bridgnorth Town Council, Clare Turner, said: “Bridgnorth Town Council are in the process of undertaking investigations, including discussing next steps with various stakeholders, including specialist engineers, Shropshire Council and, of course, the Cliff Railway.

“Once those investigations and discussions have taken place, we propose to set out our substantive position.”