New manager for Michelin’s Dundee factory

Jonathan Wright, currently Stoke factory manager, named as replacement

Dundee’s Michelin factory will get a new manager in May.

John Reid, widely credited with saving the plant from closure in 2010, is being transferred to another of the tyre manufacturer’s factories.

Workers at Michelin’s Baldovie factory were told of Mr Reid’s departure in a staff-wide email on Friday.

The news of Mr Reid’s departure comes just days after it emerged Michelin had been ordered to pay almost £30,000 in compensation to a factory worker who was sacked after being signed off with stress.

Stan Reid was signed off after Ralph Smith, the son of a friend, died after falling from cliffs at Arbroath.

Two of Mr Reid’s other friends – Julie Mccash and David Sorrie – were then killed at a vigil for the missing teenager.

Mr Reid was signed off work for a week but bosses at the tyre factory saw a Facebook photo of him at a gin festival and dismissed him.

An employment tribunal ruled his sacking was “egregiously” unfair.

The memo to staff from Mr Reid stated: “From the 21st of May, I will be replaced as factory manager in Dundee by Jonathan Wright, currently the Stoke factory manager. “Jonathan will arrive in Dundee in the second half of April to undergo a period of training and handover.

“Jonathan has been the plant manager in Stoke for approximately three years, prior to that he was head of production for the Ballymena factory,” he said.

“I will then move to another post in the group, to be announced at a later date.”

Mr Reid added: “This is a positive thing and after 8.5 years as the factory manager, you probably feel ready for a change.

“I know I can count on your support over the next few months as we continue stabilising the factory and making investments work.”

The factory employs more than 800 staff.

New machinery and technology will be installed at the factory later this year as part of an investment programme that started in 2015.

Last June First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Michelin to announce a £16.5 million upgrade to the site, with more than a quarter of the cash coming from public funds.

Michelin was asked to comment but had not responded by the time of going to press.

Picture: Kris Miller. John Reid is being transferred to another post with the tyre manufacturer.