BRIDGES Motor Group has closed its two dealerships and garages in Cirencester following news it has gone into administration.

The company operates across four sites as a dealership for Renault and Nissan in Cirencester, Newbury and Reading.

A sign at Bridges Renault in Cirencester read: "Unfortunately the forecourt will close today at 5pm and will be closed tomorrow June 5. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Uncollected newspapers and milk have been left at the doorstep of the stranded garage.

All four dealerships have now ceased trading and the garages are closed for fuel.

116 of the group's 139 employees have been made redundant with immediate effect.

The remaining staff, who are mainly based at the Cirencester head office, will assist the administrators with their duties.

Richard Hill and Mark Orton of KPMG have been appointed joint administrators of the company.

Mr Hill said: "Unfortunately tough trading conditions in the automotive retail sector have resulted in the business encountering problems and the decision has been taken today to cease operations in all four locations."

The administrators will now be exploring opportunities for the disposal of the remaining assets of the business.

Bridges managing director Terry Froud said: "The directors had been having prolonged discussions with Renault UK and we had a strategy to move forward, however the finance division of Renault, Renault Credit International (RCI) did not agree with the strategy.

"RCI is governed by the head office in France. The RCI Directors in the UK were trying to adopt the way forward, but the French head office would not allow this."

He added: "Despite my request to have a meeting with the French this sadly was never granted. So the directors of Bridges decided the action."

W G Bridges Ltd started the company in 1901 and Bridges Garage Ltd was formed in 1919. In 1966 the present company, Bridges Motor Group, was started.

Mr Froud said: "The sites are so valuable and there is no way we could have carried on trading without doing this."

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Administration is when a company gets into financial trouble and is unable to pay its debts.

An administrator is appointed to resume trading again if possible.

Their primary goal is to rescue the company as a going concern. If this isn't possible, the administrator will try to get a better result for the creditors than would be possible if the company was wound up.

If neither of these is possible, the administrator will sell the company's property to make at least a partial payment to one or more secured or preferential creditors, such as employees or the bank.