December 15, 2008 - Polestar has announced its intention to stop production on two presses at Polestar Petty in Leeds, with the loss of 52 jobs. A period of consultation will commence with local union representatives and employees. The decision has been taken as part of Polestar's ongoing review of its print capacity.

Polestar Chief Executive Barry Hibbert says '' I suspect this is one of many moves in the sector to reduce capacity. From a Group perspective, it is better to close presses at one of our major web offset sites rather than down shift at several sites; the net result is to take press hours out of the market. Having run the Petty site as MD back in the 1990's I am sorry to see this affect many of the people I have worked with closely.''

The presses to be closed at Petty are the Baker Perkins G16 and a MAN Roland Lithoman 3 press. Chris Bowen, Polestar Petty Managing Director, says: ''We will consult with staff over the coming weeks and provide as much support as possible to help those at risk of redundancy.''