DOZENS of staff at a troubled firm have been given a reprieve after a buyer stepped in at the 11th hour.

Two weeks ago, 81 staff at Chiltern Invadex, in Bicester, which makes equipment for disabled people, were told they were being made redundant because the company had gone into liquidation, However businessman Mark Benyon has stepped forward and bought the company, based in Churchill Road, saving 43 jobs.

Mr Benyon, from Liverpool, said: “I managed to get people together and have taken 43 back on. Hopefully over the next few months we could get back to 81.

“I was very surprised by the standard of people – they are excellent.”

Mr Benyon also owns Aidapt Bathrooms, which has offices in Liverpool, Croydon and Wales, and Electrovision, based in the North West.

He said: “I will be in Bicester for the next three months and then the management will start to run it on their own.”

Mr Benyon will not take on any of the previous financial problems of the company, just the name and assets.

He said the firm was already on the right track. He added: “I have turned it around already. We are doing very well.”

Charlene Anderson, customer services manager, was among staff celebrating.

She said: “It’s a relief that we have got our jobs back and that Chiltern Invadex carries on.

“We are really happy. Some of us have been here for 18 years and for the company to survive is brilliant.”

Some staff said they were owed up to two months’ wages when the firm went into liquidation.

But there was confusion over who they actually worked for, after it emerged Chiltern Invadex may not have been their technical employer, and that they may have been employed by another firm, based in the London area.