TYRE production has ground to a halt at Pirelli's UK tyre factories because of a boiler malfunction.
Maintenance engineers worked through the August bank holiday weekend to try to repair a boiler at the firm's tyre factory in Carlisle, but Pirelli bosses are still waiting for the plant to get back to the business of making tyres.

The failure of one of Pirelli's Carlisle factory boilers, resulted in Pirelli stopping production at both its UK plants. Pirelli's other UK factory in Burton was forced to shutdown because it supplies the raw materials for tyre production at the Carlisle plant.

The boiler fault was discovered last Thursday (August 21) and workers were told to stay away from the factory. Pirelli is currently getting all boilers at the giant Carlisle plant inspected.

A spokesman for Pirelli said the cause of the boiler fault was still being investigated.

The Pirelli factory, which employs about 1,000 workers, usually operates around the clock for 365 days a year.

The shutdown of the factories has resulted in the lost production of thousands of tyres.