Famous green raincoat

Reporting on the closure of historic machine firm Wadkin earlier this week brought back memories of my early weeks with the Mercury.

The world-renowned 113-year-old company, in Bardon, near Coalville, has gone into liquidation after Skipton Building Socieity withdrew its support for the troubled business.

In March 2001, less than two months after starting at the Mercury, I was asked to stand outside Wadkin's former factory in Green Lane Road, in Spinney Hills, Leicester, to try and get reaction from the then 250-strong workforce after it had gone into administrative receivership.

I was aware the company was in trouble a few days beforehand because I knew a couple of people who worked there. Having had no joy getting anything out of the company, the then business editor told me he had received a press release from the receivers informing of the firm's collapse.

I was despatched to the factory to get some comment to add colour to a front page story being put together for the following day. I arrived about 4.40pm and spent 20 minutes walking up and down the front of the historic building before workers began leaving for the day. However, despite by best efforts not one of them would comment - on or off the record - even one of the people I knew, who I spotted walking to his car. He just looked at me and smiled.

I later found out workers had been ordered over the factory tannoy not to the talk to the journalist in the green puffer jacket outside. My friends immediately knew who that journalist was. I had bought a green Spiewak jacket in New York a few months before in a half price sale, was rather proud of it and wore it constantly.

The second friend deliberately stayed inside the factory fearing if he came face to face with me someone would find out he had tipped me off and he'd be one of the first redundancies. He didn't know anything about the press release.

I ended up going back to the office with no comments.