By Matthew Legg Business editor

Last updated 05:36, Friday, 03 October 2008

THE credit crunch arrived with devastating effect in Cumbria this week in a black week for jobs.

Redundancies were announced at a Carlisle car delivery firm, a cheese factory in Aspatria, a Workington packaging company and television station Border TV as the global economic crisis deepened.

Vehicle sales and leasing firm Just Vans, of Cotehill, has been placed into administration, though no jobs have yet been lost.

The redundancies mark the moment when ‘credit crunch’ shifted from being an abstract financial term to a tangible economic force with a true human cost.

Nationwide car delivery firm ECM, based at Carlisle Airport, is to make 45 people redundant after it was stung by the collapse in new car sales. A significant number of the losses will be in Carlisle.

First Milk announced last Friday it will shed 11 jobs at its Aspatria cheese factory and ITV revealed it will put 51 staff out of work at Carlisle’s Border TV in a merger with Tyne Tees.

In west Cumbria, Workington’s Alcan packaging plant told workers 40 jobs will go after it lost one of its biggest contracts.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rob Johnston said it was the drop in confidence in the economy that was prompting many of the lay offs.

And he warned that if the crisis in the banking sector was not solved, the rivers of credit to businesses would remain frozen and many more redundancies would follow.

He added: “Not all of the recent announcements about jobs in the county are a result of the credit crunch and problems in the financial sector.

“Of those that are though, some have been directly hit through falling demand, for others the issue is principally one of confidence.

“They are concerned that demand for their products and services will fall, that this will be maintained for a lengthy period and that they’ll face problems ensuring the finance that they need to operate.

“All businesses rely on the banking sector, not just for borrowing but for day-to-day business transactions too.

“A banking sector that isn’t working properly can put businesses under pressure.

“There’s real concern that businesses won’t get the facilities they need, meaning some may be unable to continue and others will have to contract their activities and plans, with a detrimental effect on the economy.”