A REDUNDANT printer says that Swindon Jobcentre's assurance of "doing everything possible" to help 65 people affected by the closure of Romney Packaging was an empty promise.

The 35-year-old from Abbey Meads, who did not wish to be named, was left jobless after the closure of the Dorcan-based printing company earlier this month.

But, he said, with a wife and child to support and hefty mortgage payments, he can ill afford to wait for his first jobseekers' allowance cheque.

"The factory shut very quickly despite management assurances there would be a buy-out or some sort of takeover," he said. "I went to the Jobcentre on March 18 and they said they would do everything to help those affected by the closure, but my first appointment to see someone isn't until April 9 it's a vicious circle."

Philip Osborne, operations manager at Swindon Jobcentre, said the delay was "not ideal".

"There has been an increase in the number of claims in the past few weeks," he said.

"Employees at Romney Packaging were given no notice and we have had a number of people come to see us. It's common to wait three or four days for an appointment but 10 days is not an ideal situation.

"We are deploying more staff to help process claims and sympathise with claimants but we are doing our utmost to help."

The Department of Trade and Industry is dealing with redundancy packages, but that could take up to 12 weeks.