I was one of the youngest at the factory, I was 17 at the time working in 04 the heavy machine shop. Most were great people to work with but the machinery was so outdated we still had overhead belt driven machines. When it rained we had to put buckets out and when it was cold the union had an agreement with the company that we would keep on working if they give us soup! Yes there were some people who blagged overtime and never worked it but the vast majority were hard working decent people, some of whom never recovered from losing their jobs.

@zetametallic

3 жыл бұрын

I was only 4 when this happened but my parents told me how hard those worked at Meccano. It was a terrible shame this closed and lots of other industry that was situated on Edge Lane.

@th8257

7 ай бұрын

Sadly the story of British industry back then. Chronic underinvestment. I remember my dad telling me in the 1980s that the machinery they were using was from the 1920s.

The sit-in continued for three months until Airfix got a High Court order for possession of the factory and sent the bailiffs in; at dawn on 11 March 1980 they got in. The factory was demolished by the end of the year.

it's just sad to see these people care so much about there cause, whereas in reality pretty much all of these people are dead now - we fight for things but ultimately we don't live long enough to see any benefits

Once bosses, or parent company, get an offer to sell the property, or land, or the patent of products, that is irresistible, thats the beginning of the end for that business. The people at the top always end up richer.

Fascinating documentary- historic, socially and economically - can’t believe 40 (!)years have flown by since I remember this 🤦🏻‍♂️

@MarkAShaw64

4 жыл бұрын

40 years.

@sandmanjono1239

4 жыл бұрын

Mark Shaw my bad .... edited accordingly, must be my age 🙄

@MarkAShaw64

4 жыл бұрын

😊

@carlforde172

4 жыл бұрын

6y

It would be helpful to know why the owners wanted to close the factory. On it’s face they are no longer profitable. Why would the unions assume the owners would continue to fund an unprofitable operation. There is no discussion that they might be moving production elsewhere. Seems like no money to keep the operation going. Are we missing something? $5 million loss is a $5million loss? The interviewer asks the irrelevant question as to whether the workers were to blame. NO. Times changed and the business was no longer profitable. A job is never a guarantee of a lifelong paycheck.

@paulc9588

3 жыл бұрын

Correct. Tastes changed, that was the main factor. Children were no longer into die-cast toys as they had been 10 or 20 years earlier. Dinky Toys was just not a viable operation. Although both workers and management were partly to blame the fact that the target market moved on to other things is far more important.

Thank you for an interesting video even if it portrays a very sad chapter in the history of Meccano. Down here in South Africa I received a nr 2 set on Christmas day, 1976 when I was 7 years old. I can honestly say that it was a life changing event that sparked an interest in mechanical devices and designs. About 35 years down the line I was able to acquire a very large collection of Meccano parts that basically came down to a double nr. 10 set. Needless to say that it provided me with countless hours of fun and tinkering. It is very possible that some of the people in this documentary had a hand in assembling the very modest set that I received shortly before they closed down. Considering what other people wrote here about their working conditions back then I would like to commend them for the effort they put in in those days.

@henrycoppens5463

8 ай бұрын

Most interesting. I have Kenneth D Brown's book 'Factory of Dreams' which gives a detailed account of the demise of Meccano Liverpool. I received a number 6 Meccano set at the age of 10 for Christmas of 1959 - while living in Durban South Africa. I built it up to a number 9 set and many extra parts using my initial 2 shillings and 6 pence a week pocket money, negotiated to 1 SA rand per week by 1963. then equal to 50 p UK. After an absence of about 40 years the SA Meccano club motivated me to resuscitate my hobby. I now have a collection of some 50 brand new sets from No 00 to 10, including 4 No 10's and 2 No 9A sets, with parts still strung with green cord from the red and green period to the French yellow and blue line. I also have about 500 spare parts in their original unopened yellow (printed in England)_ Liverpool Meccano boxes. I have some 100 000 parts which I use for model building. Even if not produced now in England, Frank Hornby's vision still thrives!!!!!

Meccano needed to keep their instruction manuals up to date. The Number 10 set showed stuff from the 1950s. I do Meccano as a hobby and I wouldn't change it for anything.

So sad for all these people, you had to live through the 1980s to understand what it was really like.

The story of Britain's industrial decline in a nutshell. Chronic underinvestment, poor management, appalling labour relations, failure to adapt to changing times and tastes. It's amazing how so many older people have airbrushed the realities out of their memories.

A sad but not unusual situation especially in the years to come after this film.It always seems to be the company that’s the bad guy .No one ever seems to add up the liabilities of running a company with so many employees.Things like how much property taxes did they pay not to mention pension/health care,Looming on the horizon environmental requirements somehow never cross a journalist’s mind.

Wow, when Edge Lane was full of factories. Getting government subsidies and then still shutting down. Brazen flouting of employment law of 90 days notice.

This is interesting

Mecanno and Airfix just couldn't glue their tactics and build on the momentum under workers control.

"This factory is yours" (the workers') On what planet could this little gem ever be taken seriously?

So did they get their 90 day pay redundancy - after all of this was over. ?

Bet I cant guess where this went off to be made !!!! Corona Virus central Takes the micky really why did this happen I would love to see Great britain make things again

@chrisfreemesser5707

4 жыл бұрын

From what I just read on Wikipedia Meccano is still made in France

Meccano kits of today seems to be hard to build into other models compared to past ones.

@marklola12

4 жыл бұрын

I only had 1 kit when I was little I was not that bothered about it, wonder if they made it harder so you buy other kits instead of having loads of options with a few kits...to get you to spend more money

Hi were can I get an episode of wish you were here from 93 to 93 I will pay a fee if I have too thanks if anyone can help or give some advice it was the sustrans newly built cycle track and feutured beamish County durham

'@0:43 - DF ? Does the label on that sandwich say "Suicide" ??

@operatorjeffdeathstar7759

2 ай бұрын

Sausage Roll...prick...Lol

It started to be made in France in the 80s then 2000 was bought by someone else and is made in France and china

Terrible Days ! Derek Hatton? Less said the Better.

Was it moved out to China?

@paulc9588

3 жыл бұрын

The Dinky brand was effectively dead for a decade until bought by Hong Kong based Universal Toys (owners of Matchbox). They launched the excellent 'Matchbox Dinky Collection' of 1:43 scale die-cast cars in 1988. These were aimed at adult collectors rather than children and made in both Macau and China until 1992. Much better quality than Dinky Toys of the 1970s! The brand is now owned by Mattel who have licensed it to third parties offering China-made replica Dinky Toys, e.g. Atlas Editions and De Agostini. Again these are intended for collectors, not children.

Where did tey steal the retierment presents from

Once the writing is on the wall, as it clearly was here the reality is simple... get out...because as sad as it is they’re not in control of the situation and you’re not going to stop the tide

I would have taken redundancy.

@bobsmith3291

2 жыл бұрын

And then been unemployed

When you have strong unions, companies have little room to worsen pay and conditions for a workforce. Interesting to witness the beginnings of Sell off outsource capitalism, so ruthless and underhand.

Issue is if a factory and business is losing money they have to do all they can to stop losing that money, and at the end of this when the guy with the mustache said you have to earn their respect...nope this is where these companies went wrong They are getting paid to do a job....respect does not come into it, they should do the work they are paid for or leave the job. They were offered the 90 day's pay....without having to work it but that was not good enough and never is for some people. I understand it's hard if you have had a job for along time and rely on it but there are situations like this where you know nothing can be done....if they stayed as they were it would be worse for everyone and losing all that money a week lol

@marklola12

4 жыл бұрын

@but ton exactly, these in the video were pushing their luck and didn't want to accept anything other than to go back as they were even though they knew it was not possible I'm all for strikes but some like to do it because they get a kick off it like the main guy in this video lol

Seems like this factory was not run very well and demand was not the problem, fulfilling the orders was the issue. Ultimately this is a management problem who failed to make the place more efficient. It would have been far better to let the dead wood go to save most of the jobs. Sad to see Derek Hatton poisoning the situation for his own gain, but not at all surprising. He's made a very good living off of promoting and exacerbating misery.

@paulc9588

3 жыл бұрын

Not sure about Meccano but Dinky Toys had been going downhill for years. By the mid-1970s children were not hooked on die-cast toys as they had been in the 1950s and 1960s. Both Lesney and Corgi went bust not long after, which proves that the writing was on the wall for this industry. Dinky products from this era were mostly pretty unappealing and also overpriced, so no wonder they went to the wall first as Dinky was the weakest of the three competing brands. Both workers and management must take some of the blame but the biggest factor was changing tastes.

@CSSTPMedia

10 ай бұрын

@@paulc9588 Lesney Products was Matchbox, and therefore was spun-off into 'Matchbox International Ltd.' changed hands multiple times until they were acquired by Tyco in 1992 in which was later acquired by Mattel in 1997. This resulted in Mattel having two die-cast ranges which are both Hot Wheels and Matchbox.

Maggie was just starting her deindustrialisation,the writing was on the wall,it was sad for these people but inevitable. 👎👎

This firm was run down until it was on its knees, and the workforce had no chance. The management REFUSED to invest in the very equipment that once made this company a huge success. Instead, the antiquated equipment stayed on the shop floor and failed the workers time after time. Can anyone be surprised that Airfix refused to comment or contribute to this programme. I'm impressed that the Union tried its very best on behalf of the workers, but this is when their strength was being ebbed away politically. Within 40 minutes and this once successful factory was closed. The poor workforce, blamed, by their rich management, for the failure. DISGRACEFUL!

Ouch glad I’ve never worked for anyone or the old fashioned way swapping my time for money F that

Ah, Scouse trade unionists. what could possibly go wrong.

@pit_stop77

4 жыл бұрын

All I can see is hard working people, desperate to keep their jobs

@michaelgrace1298

4 жыл бұрын

@@pit_stop77 no one mentioned the hard working people, they mentioned scouse union's

@heraldeventsandfilms5970

4 жыл бұрын

'Tommy Robinson' arse-licker.

@stevetaylor8698

4 жыл бұрын

@@michaelgrace1298 No one mentioned "unions" or even "union's" but unionists. And I was not referring to rank and file members, but to officials.

"Ey, ey, carm dan, carm dan...............Dey do do dat dough don't dey dough". From what I have read elsewhere, it seems Airfix wanted to invest in new machinery to modernise the factory (and no doubt as a consequence to cut jobs) so as to improve productivity, but the unions strongly objected as they wanted to keep/save EVERY job. End result being ALL jobs were lost, factory closed and production moved elsewhere. Back in the 70s and 80s, unions had far too much power, but sadly now they have almost none. I guess that is Thatcher's legacy, rightly or wrongly. Were the staff 'lazy'? I obviously don't know, but perhaps a better term would be that they probably could have worked harder. If they'd spent as much time and effort putting wheels on small toy cars as they did taking wheels from big real cars then maybe the factory would have stayed open...............................before all you scousers are triggered, I am of course kidding, so carm dan, carm dan!

@emilewilmar4919

3 жыл бұрын

shut up you bellend

Its because of made in China 🇨🇳

This is what brexit is taking us back to? These were the "good old days the brextremists hark on about"??

@michaelgrace1298

4 жыл бұрын

What? 🤔

The Pandemic is a hhooaaxx