BOSSES of a recruitment agency have reassured Wyre Forest residents made redundant by MG Rover they will be helped, despite technically living outside the area covered by the agency.

A spokeswoman for Pertemps Employment Alliance insisted the details of Kevin Morton, of Cookley Drive, Kidderminster, a former MG Rover maintenance engineer, were registered with the agency in a bid to find him a new job.

Mr Morton was among thousands of Longbridge workers given a Pertemps leaflet titled Action Team for Jobs as they walked out of the gates of the doomed car plant for the final time.

The 47-year-old married man, who had worked at MG Rover for almost four years, received just £1,200 redundancy pay and was critical of the level of support he considered was being provided by Pertemps.

He said: "It makes me angry that people think we are getting lots of help, when we aren't," he said, adding: "When I rang the helpline in the Pertemps leaflet the girl was very apologetic but said they couldn't help because my postcode was outside their criteria."

He claimed there was no point registering with Wyre Forest employment agencies because of the lack of engineering opportunities in the district.

Several agencies in the Birmingham and Black Country area had signed him on to their books and were trying to find him employment.

Diane Preece, the Birmingham area operations director for Pertemps, said it was true Mr Morton would have been told he was outside the agency's postcode area.

She added, however: "When we spoke to him we offered to have his CV ... and if any opportunities came up we would let him know."

Mrs Preece said Mr Morton had sent the agency his CV. She went on: "What we're currently doing is working with the CV, as we would work with all our client CVs to see what vacancies would be suitable."

Mr Morton is also looking nationwide for work and said he was prepared to move - although he was concerned that he would not be able to afford to buy the same kind of house in the south of the country.