A TOTAL of 43 of the West Somerset Railway’s 45 permanent staff have received letters warning that they could be made redundant in the next two months.

In a letter from WSR chairman Jonathan Pratt-Jones, received this week, staff were told that all but two members of the commercial and admin department were at risk of redundancy due to the Covid-19 crisis “and the impact this has had on us being able to run services this year, into next year and potentially longer term”.

A WSR staff member said: “We have been asked to elect representatives from each of the railway’s departments who will meet with management to decide which employees might be retained. We now await developments.”

A WSR spokesman told the Free Press yesterday (Thursday) that redundancies would be the worst case scenario “and we certainly do not wish to lose any of our skilled workforce but we have to be realistic and protect what we have.

“It is normal practice in crisis situations like this and we had no choice but to do so, due to zero income and our continuing monthly payroll costs. It has been dictated by the changed furlough regime which now ends in July for payment of 80 per cent of wages and carries on until October with contributions expected from employers.

“We have to reduce costs to save the railway and every other heritage railway is in the same boat and many will be doing exactly the same as us.”

The start of the railway’s season was postponed by the coronavirus crisis in March and an appeal for £500,000 was launched which has now reached over £100,000 but with the railway losing all its income, drastic economies have become necessary.

Mr Jones-Pratt said on Wednesday: “There is no doubt about it, this is a crisis for the West Somerset Railway. We are in unprecedented times - and it is a sad state of affairs to have the railway closed during what is our best time of the year.

“Today we had to message our staff saying that it is likely there will be a risk to their jobs in the future. It is unlikely that we will be able to run the railway this season, which will mean that we will have suffered three winters of hardship.”

In his letter to staff, Mr Jones-Pratt said that employees losing their jobs would get statutory redundancy pay.