Workers at an Oxford printing company claim they are owed thousands of pounds in wages after it went out of business.

Penny Cooper, a sales consultant for Oxprint, in New Inn Hall Street, said she was told to leave as the firm had gone into liquidation.

She said: "I have spent the last two months asking them to pay me.

"We expected to be paid but it never happened and I'm owed £3,000. I'm absolutely gutted."

Ms Cooper, 50, of Argyle Street, Iffley Fields, in East Oxford, was one of three part-time consultants at the company, along with four full-time members of staff.

The mother-of-two said she cannot afford to pay her mortgage and is struggling to find another job.

Ray Martin, 39, from Blackbird Leys, Oxford, who had worked for the company and its predecessor KallKwik for 20 years, said: "It came as a real shock. I haven't been paid since before Christmas and I'm very upset about it."

Oxprint started trading in 2003 after Rupert Crawshaw bought out Jon Blok, the franchisee of the former KallKwik operation on the site, which had traded for more than 20 years.

Mr Blok remained with the business and the staff were retained at the firm, which provided a wide range of services including printing brochures, newsletters, manuals, business stationery, posters and other types of printed material.

Mr Crawshaw confirmed the business has gone into liquidation, blaming firms printing their own literature and rising rent.

Mr Crawshaw said: "Unfortunately, trading conditions became difficult and we cannot continue. This was the only course of action we could take."

Any assets will now be distributed among the company's creditors, including the staff.

Oxprint is the second independent city centre business to go into liquidation this year, after the Heavenly Bodies day spa, in Beaumont Street.